RESEARCH - RA researchers redefine remission

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ScienceDaily

03 Feb 2011

Rheumatoid Arthritis Researchers Redefine Remission

The American College of Rheumatology has announced the release of two

new provisional definitions of rheumatoid arthritis remission, which

are to be applied to future RA clinical trials.

According to research presented in the March issue of Arthritis &

Rheumatism, a person with RA who is enrolled in a clinical trial would

need to meet one of the following definitions to be considered in

remission:

1. Tender joint count, swollen joint count (on 28 joint counts),

C-reactive protein (in mg/dl), and patient global assessment scores

(on a scale of zero to 10) are all less than or equal to one.

2. Simplified Disease Activity Index (which adds the scores from the

four outcome measures above plus a physician global assessment to

create one number between zero and about 100) score is less than or

equal to 3.3.

According to the investigators, RA disease activity is generally

characterized by joint swelling and tenderness and is also reflected

by increased blood levels of C-reactive protein, which is a laboratory

measure of inflammation. In addition, assessments by the patient and

the health professional examining the patient also reflect the extent

of disease activity. These measures, among others, have been

thoroughly reviewed by the investigators of this study and helped them

arrive at the above provisional definitions. These definitions are in

line with the RA treatment goal of reversing disease activity to

prevent future damage. More simplistically, once someone has

essentially no signs and symptoms of the disease he or she would be

considered in remission and should benefit from maximal reduction in

physical disability and no progression of joint damage.

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Read the entire article here:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110203113804.htm

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