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Objectives To investigate the association between patient–physician discordance in the assessment of disease activity and residual US synovitis/tenosynovitis in a cohort of patients with RA in clinical remission. Methods A post hoc analysis of the STARTER study, promoted by the Musculoskeletal-US (MSUS) Study Group of the Italian Society for Rheumatology, was performed using data from 361 consecutive patients with RA in clinical remission. The global assessment of disease activity by each patient (PGA) and evaluator/physician (EGA) was recorded on a 100-mm visual analogue scale. The PGA-EGA discordance was classified as positive (PGA>EGA) or negative (PGA Results The mean (s.d.) PGA and EGA scores were 6.1 (7.1) and 8.8 (12) mm, respectively, with a median (IQR) absolute difference of 4 (0–10) mm. Positive and negative discordances were recorded in 39 (10.8%) and 65(18.0%) patients, respectively. The GS-S (adjOR 1.099) and PD-S (adjOR 1.167) scores were associated with positive discordance (P Conclusions Patient–physician discordance is associated with the lack of US remission in patients with RA and may represent a further indication for MSUS.

Objectives To investigate the reliability of the OMERACT US Task Force definition of US enthesitis in SpA. Methods In this web exercise, based on the evaluation of 101 images and 39 clips of the main entheses of the lower limbs, the elementary components included in the OMERACT definition of US enthesitis in SpA (hypoechoic areas, entheseal thickening, power Doppler signal at the enthesis, enthesophytes/calcifications, bone erosions) were assessed by 47 rheumatologists from 37 rheumatology centres in 15 countries. Inter- and intra-observer reliability of the US components of enthesitis was calculated using Light’s kappa, Cohen’s kappa, Prevalence And Bias Adjusted Kappa (PABAK) and their 95% CIs. Results Bone erosions and power Doppler signal at the enthesis showed the highest overall inter-reliability [Light’s kappa: 0.77 (0.76–0.78), 0.72 (0.71–0.73), respectively; PABAK: 0.86 (0.86–0.87), 0.73 (0.73–0.74), respectively], followed by enthesophytes/calcifications [Light’s kappa: 0.65 (0.64–0.65), PABAK: 0.67 (0.67–0.68)]. This was moderate for entheseal thickening [Light’s kappa: 0.41 (0.41–0.42), PABAK: 0.41 (0.40–0.42)], and fair for hypoechoic areas [Light’s kappa: 0.37 (0.36–0.38); PABAK: 0.37 (0.37–0.38)]. A similar trend was observed in the intra-reliability exercise, although this was characterized by an overall higher degree of reliability for all US elementary components compared with the inter-observer evaluation. Conclusions The results of this multicentre, international, web-based study show a good reliability of the OMERACT US definition of bone erosions, power Doppler signal at the enthesis and enthesophytes/calcifications. The low reliability of entheseal thickening and hypoechoic areas raises questions about the opportunity to revise the definition of these two major components for the US diagnosis of enthesitis.