BACKGROUND Introduction of biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) has revolutionized treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, due to substantially higher costs of biologics compared with nonbiologics, patients with less insurance generosity may have difficulty affording these agents, which may lead to potential access disparities. OBJECTIVE To identify f...

OBJECTIVE Performance of the 2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) rheumatoid arthritis (RA) criteria was analysed in an internationally recruited early arthritis cohort (≤16 weeks symptom duration) enrolled in the 'Stop-Arthritis-Very-Early' trial. This sample includes patients with a variety of diseases diagnosed during follow-up. METHODS Two...

Early treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs)--alone or in combination-can prevent joint damage and minimize disability. Until recently, the DMARDs used predominantly in patients with rheumatoid arthritis had been methotrexate, sulfasalazine, and hydoxychloroquine. Older DMARDs such as gold, d-penicillamine, and azathioprine have fallen out of favor because of their longt...

To evaluate the prevalence of past infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the incidence of its reactivation under treatment with biological and/or nonbiological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), 239 patients receiving DMARD therapy were consecutively enrolled and tested for HBV-DNA, using a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay, H...

OBJECTIVE Tofacitinib is an oral Janus kinase inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We compared patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in patients with RA treated with tofacitinib or placebo in combination with conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). METHODS In a 12-month, phase III randomized controlled trial (ORAL Sync), patients (n = 795) with active RA a...

Objective: To evaluate the effect of anti-TNF therapy on resistance to insulin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared with patients with RA being treated with non-biological DMARDs. Methods: Inactive patients diagnosed with RA (ACR 1987 criteria) (DAS 28 < 2.6) were included, being treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (anti-TNF) (cases) and non-biological disease-modi...

OBJECTIVE Several trials suggest that triple therapy (methotrexate, sulfasalazine, and hydroxychloroquine) and biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) have similar efficacy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study was undertaken to investigate intensification to triple therapy after initial nonbiologic prescription among patients with RA. METHODS The use of tripl...

The two major advances over the 1990s in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were a shift in strategy from a "pyramid", in which disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) were deferred for several years, to the early aggressive use of DMARDs and widespread acceptance of methotrexate as the DMARD with the most long-term effectiveness and safety. Methotrexate courses are continued fa...