Serum rheumatoid factor (RF) is important in the diagnosis and prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The purpose of this study is to compare the clinical characteristics and treatment patterns of RA according to the presence of RF in Korean patients. A retrospective analysis was performed on the records of 109 patients who were followed for at least 2 years, among 230 RA patients who visited ...

Many studies have been conducted concerning discontinuation of biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD), but mainly in trial settings which result in limited generalisability. Registry studies can complement the current literature of biologic DMARD discontinuation by providing more generalisable information. However, it may be necessary to combine registries to increase power and...

Background • Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is an inflammatory peripheral and/or axial arthritis associated with psoriasis, usually seronegative for rheumatoid factors1 • Patients with PsA also have debilitating skin disease, and nearly half may also have a spinal disease.2 PsA is estimated to affect 2.0% to 3.0% of the general population3 • To date, few studies have examined treatment persistence o...

BACKGROUND Tofacitinib is the first oral Janus kinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We compared the effectiveness and safety of tofacitinib, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi), and non-TNF biologics in patients with RA previously treated with methotrexate. METHODS We used MarketScan® databases (2011-2014...

ANA = antinuclear antibody; AS = ankylosing spondylitis; ATTRACT = Anti-TNF Trial in Rheumatoid Arthritis with Comcomitant Therapy; BASDAI = Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index; BASFI = Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index; BASGI = Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Global Index; BASMI = Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index; DMARD = disease-modifying antirheumatic...

INTRODUCTION Health care utilization databases have been increasingly used for studies of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the accuracy of RA diagnoses in these data has been inconsistent. METHODS Using medical records and a standardized abstraction form, we examined the positive predictive value (PPV) of several algorithms to define RA diagnosis using claims data: A) at least two visits c...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease requiring long-term suppressive treatment. Early combination therapies using diseasemodifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) or TNF inhibitors with methotrexate (TNFi/MTX) have been shown to be more efficacious than DMARD monotherapy in terms of clinical outcomes, disability and radiological progression [1–3]. New guidelines all recommen...

BACKGROUND Biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are increasingly used for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment. However, little is known based on contemporary data about the factors associated with DMARDs and patterns of use of biologic DMARDs for initial and subsequent RA treatment. METHODS We conducted an observational cohort study using claims data from a commercial healt...