Two-thirds of newly diagnosed RA patients were prescribed a disease modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) in year one and 28% received no antirheumatic therapy, according to a study of RA patients. Researchers found:

• Within 12 months after diagnosis, 65% of the incident cohort were prescribed corticosteroids, 64% received non-biologic DMARDs, and 20% received TNF inhibitors.

• Median time to first anti-TNF prescription was 6 months; 31% switched to a second drug and 15% to a third.

• An aggressive subcohort comprising 11% of incident patients received more DMARDs (83%) and TNF inhibitors (43%) and was more likely to switch.

• An older cohort (28%) with more comorbidities and contraindications to methotrexate received only symptomatic therapy over a minimum of 1.75 years of followup.

Citation: Crane MM, Juneja M, Allen J, et al. Epidemiology and treatment of new onset and established rheumatoid arthritis in an insured U.S population. [Published online ahead of print June 19, 2015]. Arthritis Care Res. doi: 10.1002/acr.22646.