{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T04:32:04Z","timestamp":1791433924591,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,2]],"date-time":"2020-12-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1606867200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Studies have shown conflicting characteristic thermographic patterns of the feet in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, to date no studies have compared thermographic patterns of patients with RA in remission and healthy controls. Thus this study aimed to investigate whether the thermal characteristics of the feet of RA patients, in clinical and radiological remission differ to those of healthy controls.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Using convenience sampling, RA patients were recruited upon confirmed absence of synovitis by clinical examination and musculoskeletal ultrasound. Thermal images of the feet were taken. Each foot was subdivided into medial, central, lateral, forefoot and heel regions. Subsequently, temperatures in the different regions were analyzed and compared to a cohort of healthy adults.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Data from 32 RA patients were compared to that of 51 healthy controls. The Independent samples T-Test demonstrated a significant difference in temperatures in all the regions of the forefoot between RA participants versus healthy subjects (Table 1). Using the One-Way ANOVA test, no significant difference was found between all the forefoot regions (p = 0.189) of RA patients. Independent sample T-test found significant differences in all heel regions between the two groups (Table 2). One-Way ANOVA demonstrated no significant differences (p = 0.983) between the different foot regions (n = 192) of RA patients.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>These findings suggest that RA patients in clinical and radiological remission exhibit significantly different feet thermographic patterns compared to healthy controls. This data will provide the basis for future studies to assess whether thermographic patterns change with disease activity.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0243078","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,2]],"date-time":"2020-12-02T22:54:17Z","timestamp":1606949657000},"page":"e0243078","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["Thermal characteristics of rheumatoid feet in remission: Baseline data"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0489-6479","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Alfred","family":"Gatt","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cecilia","family":"Mercieca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrew","family":"Borg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Grech","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liberato","family":"Camilleri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Corene","family":"Gatt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nachiappan","family":"Chockalingam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4251-1621","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Cynthia","family":"Formosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0243078.ref001","first-page":"7962","article-title":"Detection of rheumatoid arthritis using infrared imaging","author":"M Frize","year":"2011","journal-title":"Proc. of SPIE"},{"key":"pone.0243078.ref002","article-title":"Establishing differences in thermographic patterns between the various complications in diabetic foot disease","author":"A Gatt","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. 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Sci"},{"key":"pone.0243078.ref006","first-page":"7","article-title":"The technique of infra red imaging in medicine, Thermol","volume":"10","author":"E Ring","year":"2000","journal-title":"Int"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0243078.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1317","DOI":"10.1007\/s10973-017-6141-7","article-title":"How to use thermal imaging in venous insufficiency?","volume":"130","author":"Cholewka Armand","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Therm. Anal. Calorim"},{"key":"pone.0243078.ref008","unstructured":"Borojevic N, Kolari D, Grazio S, Grubi\u0161i F, Antonini S, Nola IA et al. Thermography of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis. 53rd International Symposium ELMAR-2011, 14\u201316 September 2011, Zadar, Croatia 2011"},{"key":"pone.0243078.ref009","article-title":"Thermal imaging for detecting temperature changes within the rheumatoid foot","author":"M Gizi\u0144ska","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Therm. Anal. 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A thermographic joint assessment of inflammatory arthritis patients","volume":"37","author":"B Jones","year":"2018","journal-title":"Clin Rheum"},{"key":"pone.0243078.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17204","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-019-53598-0","article-title":"Thermographic analysis of hands and wrists of rheumatoid arthritis patients","volume":"9","author":"A Gatt","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sci Rep"},{"key":"pone.0243078.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2191","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2013.281053","article-title":"World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects","volume":"310","author":"World Medical Association","year":"2013","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"pone.0243078.ref013","article-title":"Thermographic patterns of the upper and lower limbs: baseline data","author":"A Gatt","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Vasc. 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