NEWS - ACR updates RA guidelines

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American College of Rheumatology Updates Rheumatoid Arthritis Guidelines CME

News Author: Laurie Barclay, MD

CME Author: Désirée Lie, MD, MSEd

Release Date: June 5, 2008; Valid for credit through June 5, 2009

Credits Available

Authors and Disclosures

Laurie Barclay, MD

Disclosure: Laurie Barclay, MD, has disclosed no relevant financial

relationships.

Désirée Lie, MD, MSEd

Disclosure: Désirée Lie, MD, MSEd, has disclosed no relevant financial

relationships.

Brande

Disclosure: Brande has disclosed no relevant financial

information.

June 5, 2008 —The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has updated

its 2002 guidelines on the use of nonbiologic disease-modifying

antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which now

include data on the use of biologic agents as well. The updated

recommendations are reported in the June 15 issue of Arthritis Care

and Research.

" The majority of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of . . . RA use

nonbiologic. . . DMARDs and the rate of biologic DMARD use is rising

rapidly, " write G. Saag, MD, MSc, from the University of

Alabama, Birmingham, and colleagues.

" The . . . ACR has not updated its recommendations for nonbiologic

DMARDs since 2002 and has not previously developed recommendations for

biologic agents. Although past guidelines have been derived from an

informal consensus approach, we used a formal group process to develop

recommendations that were as evidence-based as possible. "

These guidelines were developed following the principles set forth by

the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation Collaboration.

A systematic review of scientific evidence was conducted to create an

evidence report and draft guidelines addressing 5 domains prespecified

by the ACR: (1) indications for use, (2) screening for tuberculosis

(TB; for biologic DMARDs only), (3) monitoring for adverse effects,

(4) evaluating clinical response, and (5) the roles of cost and

patient preferences in decision making (for biologic DMARDs only).

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Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/575597

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