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Sex: a major predictor of remission in early rheumatoid arthritis?

Forslind, K ; Hafstrom, I ; Ahlmen, M and Svensson, Björn LU (2007) In Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 66(1). p.46-52
Abstract
Background: The treatment goal of early rheumatoid arthritis is remission. This study reports remission rates in clinical practice using a cohort of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis. Methods: 698 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis were included. Mean age at inclusion was 58 years and mean disease duration was 6.4 months; 64% of the patients were women, 56% were positive for antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide and 60% were positive for rheumatoid factor. Remission was defined as a disease activity score < 2.6, with or without ongoing treatment with drugs for rheumatoid arthritis. Results: After 2 years, 261 of 689 patients were in remission (37.9%), and after 5 years, the remission rate was 38.5%. However, only 26.1%... (More)
Background: The treatment goal of early rheumatoid arthritis is remission. This study reports remission rates in clinical practice using a cohort of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis. Methods: 698 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis were included. Mean age at inclusion was 58 years and mean disease duration was 6.4 months; 64% of the patients were women, 56% were positive for antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide and 60% were positive for rheumatoid factor. Remission was defined as a disease activity score < 2.6, with or without ongoing treatment with drugs for rheumatoid arthritis. Results: After 2 years, 261 of 689 patients were in remission (37.9%), and after 5 years, the remission rate was 38.5%. However, only 26.1% were in remission at both these time points. Multiple logistic regression analyses found sex to be a main predictor for remission. Thus, significantly fewer women were in remission after 2 years (32.1% v 48%, p = 0.001) after 5 years (30.8% v 52.4%, p = 0.001) and at both these time points (19.1% v 39.3%, p = 0.001). Although disease activity was not with certainty more pronounced in women at onset of disease, the disease course became markedly worse in women. The disparity in remission frequency between women and men could not be explained by differences in disease duration, age or treatment with disease modifying antirheumatic drugs or glucocorticoids. Conclusions: Early remission of rheumatoid arthritis by 28-joint Disease Activity Score, 2.6 was as frequent or more frequent in this study than in most previous reports. Importantly, women had more severe disease with a considerably lower remission rate than men, although the disease activity before treatment seemed similar. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
volume
66
issue
1
pages
46 - 52
publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • wos:000242935300009
  • scopus:33846019964
ISSN
1468-2060
DOI
10.1136/ard.2006.056937
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5ccb5777-5b5f-4dac-a992-e54370430331 (old id 682381)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:26:57
date last changed
2022-04-22 22:02:42
@article{5ccb5777-5b5f-4dac-a992-e54370430331,
  abstract     = {{Background: The treatment goal of early rheumatoid arthritis is remission. This study reports remission rates in clinical practice using a cohort of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis. Methods: 698 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis were included. Mean age at inclusion was 58 years and mean disease duration was 6.4 months; 64% of the patients were women, 56% were positive for antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide and 60% were positive for rheumatoid factor. Remission was defined as a disease activity score &lt; 2.6, with or without ongoing treatment with drugs for rheumatoid arthritis. Results: After 2 years, 261 of 689 patients were in remission (37.9%), and after 5 years, the remission rate was 38.5%. However, only 26.1% were in remission at both these time points. Multiple logistic regression analyses found sex to be a main predictor for remission. Thus, significantly fewer women were in remission after 2 years (32.1% v 48%, p = 0.001) after 5 years (30.8% v 52.4%, p = 0.001) and at both these time points (19.1% v 39.3%, p = 0.001). Although disease activity was not with certainty more pronounced in women at onset of disease, the disease course became markedly worse in women. The disparity in remission frequency between women and men could not be explained by differences in disease duration, age or treatment with disease modifying antirheumatic drugs or glucocorticoids. Conclusions: Early remission of rheumatoid arthritis by 28-joint Disease Activity Score, 2.6 was as frequent or more frequent in this study than in most previous reports. Importantly, women had more severe disease with a considerably lower remission rate than men, although the disease activity before treatment seemed similar.}},
  author       = {{Forslind, K and Hafstrom, I and Ahlmen, M and Svensson, Björn}},
  issn         = {{1468-2060}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{46--52}},
  publisher    = {{BMJ Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases}},
  title        = {{Sex: a major predictor of remission in early rheumatoid arthritis?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ard.2006.056937}},
  doi          = {{10.1136/ard.2006.056937}},
  volume       = {{66}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}