New PhD in Remedy, Karen Holten

24.02.2025

Pictured: Espen A. Haavardsholm, Anna-Birgitte Aga, Karen Holten, Nina P. Sundlisæter and Siri Lillegraven.

- I have looked at the connection between what the patients themselves report on their health against the medical measurements of disease activity. This can help us provide treatment and follow -up that is more adapted to the individual, says Holten.

Exhaustion, a major challenge in arthritis

Fatigue, also called fatigue, is a common consequence of chronic diseases such as arthritis. Many people experience this as very troublesome.

- Fatigue cannot be measured directly, but patients tell about it in questionnaires, Holten explains.

Holten found that two out of three patients with new arthritis diagnosis had fatigue before starting treatment. Prior to this study, little was known about how fatigue is related to disease activity in people with arthritis who receive modern treatment.

"Fortunately, most people got much better by their fatigue after being treated according to modern treatment principles for new arthritis," she says.

Persistent fatigue, in spite of treatment

Although the treatment works well, some patients are still experiencing fatigue. Holten found that this is often linked to factors other than the medical measurements of disease activity, and she has identified risk factors for developing persistent fatigue.

- These findings can help therapists detect patients who are at risk of long -term fatigue so that measures can be implemented, says Holten.

Patients' assessment of illness provides valuable insights

Modern treatment of arthritis is often based on blood tests and joint examinations to measure inflammation. However, patients may have symptoms that these tests do not always capture.

The study shows that patients' own experience often matches well with objective findings.

- Some patients experience symptoms that do not appear in standard measurements, Holten explains.

She believes the findings show that information captured by the use of patient -reported outcome measures can give early signals that the disease is about to flare up. It can also give a good indication that the patient is well treated, without the need for control.

Data from the Arctic studies

The research is based on data from the two major national studies Arctic and Arctic Rewind. Arctic included patients who had recently been diagnosed with arthritis and who received early and targeted treatment. Arctic Rewind looked at what happens when patients without symptoms of activity in the disease step down treatment. The studies contained information on 489 patients with arthritis.

The way forward

On Monday, February 24, she passed the doctoral test with brilliance. The doctorate is affiliated with the University of Oslo and conducted at the Remedy Center at Diakonhjemmet Hospital.

Holten has worked at the hospital since 2010. She completed her master's in interdisciplinary health research in 2018 and started the doctoral thesis in 2020. The project was funded by the Dam and the Norwegian Rheumatics Association Foundation.

Now she returns to the job as a nurse at rheumatological bed post at Diakonhjemmet Hospital.

- I enjoy the job, especially because the meetings with patients with rheumatic illness are meaningful. Research and treatment go hand in hand with us and in Remedy, so I look forward to being able to continue research, she says.

Trial lecture

The title of the lecture was The Role of the Nurse in the Care of Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis - Biological and Psychosocial Factors in the Assessments and Treatments.