RESEARCH - DMARDs cost-effective for RA

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Disease-Modifying Drugs Cost-Effective for Rheumatoid Arthritis

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Nov 02 - Early use of disease-modifying

antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for rheumatoid arthritis is

cost-effective, according to a report in the ls of Internal

Medicine for November 3. Whether the same holds true for biologic

agents, however, will require further study.

The optimal approach for treating early rheumatoid arthritis is

unclear, lead author Dr. Axel Finckh, from the University Hospital of

Geneva, Switzerland, and colleagues note. Specifically, the question

is whether therapy should begin with symptom-treating medications,

moving to glucocorticoids as needed, and then stepping up to DMARDs

after 1 year or if early aggressive therapy with DMARDs or biologics

right from the start is best.

To compare the stepwise approach with early treatment with DMARDS or

biologics (plus methotrexate), the researchers analyzed data from the

National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases and used actual 2007

hospital costs. The focus was on adults with very early disease,

defined as symptom duration of 3 months or less.

Both the DMARD and the biologic early treatment approaches yielded

greater increases in quality-adjusted life and saved long-term costs

compared with the stepwise approach, also known as the pyramid

approach.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/711670

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