Rheumatoid arthritis
Korean Observational Study Network for Arthritis (KORONA): Establishment of a Prospective Multicenter Cohort for Rheumatoid Arthritis in South Korea

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semarthrit.2011.09.007Get rights and content

Objectives

The object of this study was to introduce the KORean Observational study Network for Arthritis (KORONA) registry with an emphasis on the design of the Korean rheumatoid arthritis (RA) national database, as well as to provide an overview of the RA patients who are currently registered in KORONA.

Methods

The KORONA was established in July 2009 by the Clinical Research Center for Rheumatoid Arthritis (CRCRA) in South Korea. KORONA is based on a prospective protocol and standard, defined data collection instruments. Demographic and clinical features, laboratory and radiologic data, health-related outcomes, treatment side effects, resource utilization, and health behaviors of the RA cohort patients are recorded in a database.

Results

A total of 23 institutions, which are about 38% of the rheumatologic departments at tertiary academic hospitals across South Korea, are part of KORONA. The quality control of data collection and management has been performed through annual monitoring and auditing, staff training, and providing standard operation protocol by the executive committee of CRCRA. As of 31 December 2010, 4721 patients with established RA were included in KORONA, because an annual survey had started to be performed in July 2010.

Conclusions

KORONA is the first nationwide Korean RA-specific cohort and it will provide valuable “real-world” information for Korean RA patients.

Section snippets

Organization and Funding Source

The KORONA was established in July 2009 by the CRCRA. The CRCRA has support from the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare from November 2008 to March 2015 and is 1 of the major initiatives of the National Strategic Coordinating Center for Clinical Research, a nonprofit organization that deals with 11 high-impact diseases in South Korea. The mission of the CRCRA is to improve health outcomes and QOL for RA patients and to promote multidisciplinary RA clinical research across South Korea.

Results

A total of 4922 patients were enrolled in KORONA as of December 2010: 4721 consenting patients and 201 nonconsenting patients. The population of 4721 consenting patients had a mean age of 54.25 ± 12.19 years and included 4023 women (85.21%). The mean symptom onset age was 43.89 ± 12.99 years, and the mean disease duration was 8.30 ± 7.57 years. RF positivity and anti-CCP antibody positivity were 86.8% (4098/4719) and 83.9% (3018/3599), respectively. The comorbidities at enrollment are shown in

Discussion

Data on nearly 5000 patients were entered into the registry, until December 2010. KORONA has a number of features that deserve particular mention. First, efforts to ensure high-quality data collection and management have been made by the CRCRA. A major challenge with this study is to assure that the KORONA data and samples are of consistently high quality, especially given the large number of centers involved in the study. Several measures are used to ensure the consistency of the data and the

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This study was supported by a grant from the Korea Health care Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea (A102065).

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