Ten-Year Outcomes Tracked In Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

November 29, 2002

11/26/2002

By Anne MacLennan

The vast majority of people with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are still

coping well on their own after a decade with the condition.

This is one finding of a 10-year prospective study of the health status,

disease process and damage in early RA patients by researchers from the

Department of Rheumatology, Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.

After 10 years, 94 percent of 158 study patients were managing their daily

life activities independently (functional class I-II), report Dr E Lindqvist

and colleagues.

Overall, 168 of 183 patients with RA duration of less than two years at

study outset completed the entire follow-up period. They were assessed

annually at a team care unit.

Of all 183 patients, 137 (75 percent) had received disease modifying

antirheumatic drugs, and 84 (46 percent) had been treated with low dose oral

glucocorticoids.

After 10 years, as measured by the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), 20

percent had almost no disability, 28 percent were mildly disabled and 10

percent were seriously disabled. Median score had increased from 0.8 to 1.1.

Disease activity was significantly reduced. Seventy-nine percent of patients

(133) had a relapsing remitting disease course, and 18 percent (30 patients)

were in remission (per American College of Rheumatology criteria).

Thirty patients (17 percent) had undergone large joint replacements, and 15

(eight percent) had developed major extra-articular complications.

The HAQ score during the first three months predicted disability at 10 years

with an odds ratio of 13.4.

This kind of prospective study provides important knowledge of the variable

long term prognosis of RA as well as necessary background information for

clinical trials of new treatment modalities, these researchers suggest.

Ann Rheum Dis 2002; Dec;61(12):1055-9.

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