OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of etanercept added to prevailing drug therapy in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) whose disease was refractory to conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) treatment, including combinations of different DMARDs. METHODS Data on 31 JIA patients with a disease resistant to conventional DMARD treatment were retrospectively collected...

OBJECTIVE To determine if variations in trial eligibility criteria and patient baseline characteristics could be considered effect modifiers of the treatment response when testing targeted therapies (biological agents and targeted synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs)) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS We conducted a meta-epidemiological study of all trials evaluating ...

INTRODUCTION Numerous studies across different health systems have documented that many patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) do not receive disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Relatively little is known about correlates of DMARD use and whether there are socioeconomic and demographic disparities. We examined DMARD use during 2001 to 2006 in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Surve...

Triple combination therapy with hydroxychloroquine, sulfasalazine, and methotrexate (MTX) has been shown in double-blind, placebo-controlled studies to be significantly superior to MTX alone (Paulus 50% responses of 77% versus 33%). In long-term follow-up studies, this therapy has now been shown to be well-tolerated with continued efficacy in the majority of patients.

Background: The development of biologic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARD) has dramatically improved the management rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, some patients did not respond or partially to agents. Management first bDMARD failure may involve another biotherapy. Objectives: aim our study is assess efficacy second line as well survival rates 2 nd biotherapy in RA. Methods: Thi...

Small molecule disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) played a central role in drug therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before biological preparations (biologics) came into extensive use for the treatment of this disease. Unlike non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and steroids, which primarily alleviate the symptoms of RA such as pain and inflammation, DMARDs are known to s...

SIR, We welcome the collective efforts of Dr Chakravarty and colleagues [1] in producing current revised guidelines on the DMARD therapy in consultation with the British Association of Dermatologists. Undoubtedly a lot of attention and effort had gone into bringing these guidelines up to date. Active collaboration of the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR), British Health Professionals in Rh...