Key clinical point: For patients with remitted rheumatoid arthritis, tapering off tumor necrosis factor–inhibitor therapy did not significantly increase the risk of flare, compared with tapering off conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.

Major finding: Cumulative rates of flare at 1 year (DAS greater than 2.4 or swollen joint count greater than 1) were 33% for conventional synthetic DMARDs (95% CI, 24%-43%) and 43% (95% CI, 33%-53%) for TNF inhibitors (P = .17).

Study details: Tapering Strategies in Rheumatoid Arthritis; TARA), a multicenter, single-blinded, randomized trial of 189 patients with rheumatoid arthritis in sustained remission.

Disclosures: An unrestricted grant from ZonMW supported the work. The investigators reported having no conflicts of interest.