scholarly journals Comparison of clinical manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis in patients with moderate or high disease activity depending on the presence or absence of symptoms of neuropathic pain

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
E. Yu. Polishchuk ◽  
E. S. Filatova ◽  
A. E. Karateev ◽  
V. N. Amirdzhanova ◽  
V. A. Nesterenko

Objective: to study the effect of neuropathic pain symptoms (SNP) on the clinical manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients with moderate or high disease activity.Patients and methods. The 1st (main) group included 58 RA patients (84.5% of women, age 53.0±11.9 years), in whom SNP were identified using the DN4 (≥4) and PainDETECT (≥13) questionnaires. The 2nd (control) group included 43 patients with RA (79.1% women, age 48.8±14.4 years) who did not have SNP (DN4 ≤4 and PainDETECT ≤13). All patients received disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (mainly methotrexate and leflunomide), 20% – biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. We compared groups 1 and 2 for RA activity (DAS28, CDAI, SDAI), pain intensity on a visual analogue scale (VAS, 0–100 mm), functional impairment (HAQ), patient global assessment (PGA, VAS), number of painful and swollen joints, quality of life (EQ-5D), signs of anxiety and depression (HADS), CRP level.Results and discussion. The RA activity in patients of the 1st and 2nd groups did not differ statistically significantly. Patients of the 1st group showed significantly higher indicators of the severity of pain, PGA and anxiety than patients of the control group: 71.0±12.5 and 54.7±17.5 mm, respectively (p<0.001); 61.0±13.1 and 53.7±15.3 mm (p=0.045); 62.1 and 28.6% (HADS ≥7; p<0.001), respectively.Conclusion. SNP are associated with higher rates of pain intensity, PGA, and anxiety in RA patients with moderate to high disease activity.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Tian ◽  
Zhenhua Wen ◽  
Jingyang Li ◽  
Xiaowen Luo ◽  
Li Deng ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of anbainuo (ABN) plus methotrexate (MTX) versus conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (cDMARDs) in Chinese rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Methods: Ninety RA patients who underwent ABN+MTX (assigned as ABN+MTX group (N=47)) or cDMARDs (assigned as control group (N=43)) treatment were analyzed. Disease activity was assessed at baseline (M0), 3rd month (M3), 6th month (M6) and 12th month (M12) after treatment. Drug, other medical, indirect and total costs were calculated. Then pharmacoeconomic analyses were performed with the threshold of cost-effectiveness set as 3 times of the mean gross domestic product per capita in China during the study period.Results: Treatment response rate was similar, while disease remission and low disease activity rates were increased in ABN+MTX group compared to control group. Drug cost, other medical cost and total cost were higher in ABN+MTX group than control group, while indirect cost was similar between the two groups. Meanwhile, the quality-adjusted life years (QALY) in ABN+MTX group and control group were 0.72 and 0.48 years, respectively. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) of ABN+MTX group compared to control group in total patients, moderate-disease-activity patients and severe-disease-activity patients were ¥135486.7, ¥146450.4 and ¥124987.2/QALY, respectively, which were all below cost-effectiveness threshold. Further sensitivity analyses revealed that the cost-effectiveness of ABN+MTX versus cDMARDs was relative robust, while among all the indexes, ABN price and HAQ-DI score change for ABN+MTX group affected ICER most.Conclusions: ABN+MTX treatment presents acceptable cost-effectiveness compared to cDMARDs treatment in Chinese RA patients.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyu-Un Jung ◽  
Ji-Young Han ◽  
Kyung-Gyun Hwang ◽  
Chang-Joo Park ◽  
Panagiota G. Stathopoulou ◽  
...  

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and periodontitis are common chronic inflammatory diseases and periodontitis is known to be more common and more severe in patients with RA. Based on a paucity of studies about the relationship between common conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) and periodontitis, this prospective study aimed to evaluate the adjunctive effect of csDMARDs on response to nonsurgical periodontal treatment in patients with RA. Thirty-two patients with RA (RA group) and 32 systemically healthy patients (control group) with periodontitis were included in this study. The RA group patients were treated with csDMARDs, such as methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine, and sulfasalazine. Conventional nonsurgical periodontal treatment with scaling and root planing was performed in both groups. The extent and severity of periodontitis were evaluated by plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), and bleeding on probing (BOP) at baseline and 4 weeks after periodontal treatment. There was no statistically significant difference of periodontal parameters between the RA and control groups at baseline. Four weeks after scaling and root planing, PD reduction, and CAL gain were higher in the RA group treated with csDMARDs compared to the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.006 and 0.003, respectively). A post hoc analysis of the RA group showed no statistically significant difference on the response to nonsurgical periodontal treatment in multiple csDMARDs therapy and addition of NSAIDs and/or steroids to csDMARDs. In patients with RA, csDMARDs showed beneficial effect on periodontal clinical parameters following the nonsurgical periodontal treatment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Mohammad-Ayman A. Safi ◽  
Dhiya T. Houssien

To assess the prevalence and association of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides and rheumatoid factor in Saudi rheumatoid arthritis patients.Over three years (February 2011 - February 2014). Demographic and clinical features, drugs, rheumatoid factor-positivity, and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides-positivity were recorded for 205 Saudi rheumatoid arthritis patients (185 females; mean age was 45 years and mean disease duration was 5 years). Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides and rheumatoid factor were assessed in serum. Disease activity scores for 28 joints was used. There were 36% rheumatoid factor+ve and 45% anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides+ve. 21.5% of the rheumatoid factor-ve subjects were anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides+ve. 13.3% of the rheumatoid factor positive patients were anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides-ve and 86.7% were anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides+ve. Significant association (P < 0.05) of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides-positivity and rheumatoid factor-positivity with each other, and with gender, use of disease–modifying antirheumatic drugs, hydroxychloroquine and methotrexate. No direct impact of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides status on the disease activity scores for 28 joints or its constituents (P > 0.5); nevertheless, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides positive patients appear to represent a greater need for combination disease modifying drugs. 


2020 ◽  
pp. 87-95
Author(s):  
Alice Mason ◽  
Mariam Malik

In recent years, a new concept of prehabilitation, enhancing an individual’s functional capacity ahead of a medical intervention, has begun to be explored in the fields of surgery and oncology, with positive results. This article explores applying the principle of prehabilitation to patients with rheumatoid arthritis prior to starting advanced therapies, including biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. In this article, the literature is reviewed and the existing evidence is summarised, and the suggestion is that this approach could improve a patient’s chance of achieving low disease activity or remission. There are a number of opportunities for improving the likelihood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis having a good response to therapy. Research shows that smokers starting TNF inhibitors are less likely to achieve a good response compared to non-smokers. Obese patients are also less likely to achieve a good response with TNF inhibitors; female patients with obesity may be less likely to achieve a good response with tocilizumab and early real-world data suggest there may be a reduced response to JAK inhibitors. Rheumatoid arthritis patients experiencing depression are less likely to respond to TNF inhibitors. Increased physical activity is potentially beneficial for all rheumatoid arthritis patients, although the effect on response to specific drugs has been less widely explored. Prehabilitation approaches could include targeting smoking cessation, improving physical activity, providing psychological support, optimising BMI, and dietary changes. A number of studies have shown that each of these interventions can lead to significant improvements in disease activity scores, with some patients potentially benefitting from more than one intervention. The authors identify principles for delivering prehabilitation in practice and suggest that this is an exciting area for ongoing research.


2019 ◽  
pp. 089719001986915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula M. Gomides ◽  
Cleandro P. Albuquerque ◽  
Ana B.V. Santos ◽  
Rodrigo B. C. Amorim ◽  
Manoel B. Bértolo ◽  
...  

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with high frequency of comorbidities and increased risk of polypharmacy. Although there is a great potential for complications, there is a gap in literature on polypharmacy in patients with rheumatic arthritis. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with polypharmacy in a population in a real-life setting. Methods: A cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted in Brazil. Patients underwent clinical evaluation and medical records analysis. Polypharmacy was considered as a dependent variable. To test independent variables, we used Poisson regression. Results: We evaluated 792 patients (89% female, median age 56.6 years). Median duration of disease was 12.7 years, 78.73% had a positive rheumatoid factor. The median of disease activity score-28 was 3.5 (disease with mild activity), median of the clinical disease activity index score was 9, and median of health assessment questionnaire-disability index was 0.875; 47% used corticosteroids, 9.1% used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, 90.9% used synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, 35.7% used biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). In total, 537 (67.9%) patients used 5 or more drugs. Polypharmacy showed a relationship with a number of comorbidities and use of specific drugs (corticosteroids, methotrexate, and biological DMARDs). Conclusion: We found a high prevalence of polypharmacy (67.9%) in RA. Solutions to management this problem should be stimulated.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Benucci ◽  
Gianantonio Saviola ◽  
Mariangela Manfredi ◽  
Piercarlo Sarzi-Puttini ◽  
Fabiola Atzeni

The cost effectiveness of treatments that have changed the “natural history” of a chronic progressive disease needs to be evaluated over the long term. Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are the standard treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and should be started as early as possible. A number of studies have shown that they are effective in improving disease activity and function, and in joint damage. Our review was focused on revision and critical evaluation of the studies including the literature on cost effectiveness of DMARDs (cyclosporine A, sulphasalazine, leflunomide, and methotrexate). The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations showed that traditional DMARDs are cost effective at the time of disease onset. They are less expensive than biological DMARDs and can be useful in controlling disease activity in early RA.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. e028517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Line Uhrenholt ◽  
Annette Schlemmer ◽  
Ellen-Margrethe Hauge ◽  
Robin Christensen ◽  
Lene Dreyer ◽  
...  

IntroductionThe The BIOlogical Dose OPTimisation (BIODOPT) trial is a pragmatic, multicentre, randomised controlled, open-label, parallel-group, equivalence study designed to evaluate tapering of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) in sustained clinical remission or low disease activity (LDA). Traditionally, these patients maintain standard dosage of bDMARD lifelong; however, recent studies indicate that a significant proportion of patients in sustained remission or LDA can taper their bDMARD and maintain stable disease activity. Thus, this trial aims to evaluate whether a disease activity-guided tapering strategy for bDMARDs will enable a significant dosage reduction while maintaining disease activity compared with usual care. From the individual patient’s standpoint as well as from a societal perspective, it would be advantageous if bDMARDs could be reduced or even discontinued while maintaining disease activity.Methods and analysisA total of 180 patients with RA, PsA or axSpA treated with bDMARDs and in clinical remission/LDA during the past 12 months will be enrolled from four centres in Denmark. Patients will be randomised in a ratio of 2:1 to either disease activity-guided tapering of bDMARDs (intervention group) or continuation of bDMARDs as usual care (control group).The primary objective is the difference between the two groups in the proportion of patients who have reduced their inclusion dosage of bDMARDs to 50% or less while maintaining stable disease activity at 18 months follow-up.Ethics and disseminationThe study is approved by the ethics committee of Northern Jutland, Denmark (N-20170073) and by the Danish Medicine Agency. Patient research partner KHH contributed to refinement of the protocol and approved the final manuscript. Results will be disseminated through publication in international peer-reviewed journals.Trial registration number2017-001970-41; Pre-results.


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