"Independent assessor" and "pooled index" as techniques for measuring treatment effects in rheumatoid arthritis.

To conduct studies of therapy of rheumatoid patients at the primary care level two new assessment techniques were developed. The "independent assessor" (IA) was a nonmedical person trained to gather information using a questionnaire, a guided count of tender joints, grip strength, and blood tests. The "polled index" was a statistical device for summarizing all abailable information, constructed by transformation of various clinical measures of …