Key clinical point: Intensive treatment more effectively suppressed joint damage progression than the current treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who showed joint damage progression and had low disease activity (LDA) or were in remission.
Major finding: At 1 year of treatment, intensive vs current treatment was associated with a smaller change in the van der Heijde modified total Sharp score (ΔTSS; 0.67 vs 1.79; P < .001) and joint space narrowing scores (0.57 vs 1.41; P < .001) and a larger proportion of patients achieved a ΔTSS of ≤0.5 (66.7% vs 32.4%; P = .010).
Study details: This retrospective study included 89 patients with RA in remission or with LDA who showed joint damage progression and were assigned to either receive intensive treatment or continue the current treatment.
Disclosures: This study did not declare the funding source. T Mochizuki, K Yano, and K Ikari declared receiving lecture honoraria from various sources. The other authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Mochizuki T et al. Intensive treatment for the progression of joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis patients with low disease activity or remission. Mod Rheumatol. 2023 (Jun 2). doi: 10.1093/mr/road041