Trial reportAnnals of the rheumatic diseases2010
The Stop Arthritis Very Early (SAVE) trial, an international multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial on glucocorticoids in very early arthritis.
Trial report in Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 44 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 135 citations in OpenAlex.
- EULAR points to consider for conducting clinical trials and observational studies in individuals at risk of rheumatoid arthritis.Annals of the rheumatic diseases · 2021Guideline
- Efficacy of conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, glucocorticoids and tofacitinib: a systematic literature review informing the 2013 update of the EULAR recommendations for management of rheumatoid arthritis.Annals of the rheumatic diseases · 2014Pooled it
- [Systematic literature research for S1 guidelines on sequential medical treatment of rheumatoid arthritis].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2012Pooled it
- Undifferentiated arthritis: a changing population who did not benefit from enhanced disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug strategies-results from a 25 year longitudinal inception cohort.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2022Trial
- Induction of sustained remission in early inflammatory arthritis with the combination of infliximab plus methotrexate: the DINORA trial.Arthritis research & therapy · 2018Trial
- Two-year results of disease activity score (DAS)-remission-steered treatment strategies aiming at drug-free remission in early arthritis patients (the IMPROVED-study).Arthritis research & therapy · 2016Trial
- Application of the 2010 ACR/EULAR classification criteria in patients with very early inflammatory arthritis: analysis of sensitivity, specificity and predictive values in the SAVE study cohort.Annals of the rheumatic diseases · 2013Trial
- Aggressive therapy in patients with early arthritis results in similar outcome compared with conventional care: the STREAM randomized trial.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2012Trial
- Observational
- Refining serological scores in rheumatoid arthritis classification: an international study.RMD open · 2026Article
- Patient and First-Degree Relatives Perceptions About Prediction and Prevention of Inflammatory Bowel Disease-A Multinational Survey.United European gastroenterology journal · 2025Article
- Prevention of Rheumatoid Arthritis in At-Risk Individuals: Current Status and Future Prospects.Drugs · 2024Review
- Article
- Rheumatoid arthritis prevention in arthralgia: fantasy or reality?Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2023Review
- Subclinical bowel inflammation increases healthcare resources utilization and steroid use before diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.United European gastroenterology journal · 2023Article
- Pre-RA: Can early diagnosis lead to prevention?Best practice & research. Clinical rheumatology · 2022Review
- A Roadmap for Investigating Preclinical Autoimmunity Using Patient-Oriented and Epidemiologic Study Designs: Example of Rheumatoid Arthritis.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
- Article
- Is the prevention of rheumatoid arthritis possible?Clinical rheumatology · 2020Review
- Update on the Pathomechanism, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options for Rheumatoid Arthritis.Cells · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
12 authors at 7 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGlucocorticoids (GCs) are often used as early arthritis treatment and it has been suggested that they induce remission or at least delay the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the need to start disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
objectiveTo test the effect of GCs on patients with very early arthritis (symptom duration of <16 weeks) in a randomised controlled trial.
methodsPatients received a single intramuscular injection of 120 mg methylprednisolone or placebo (PL) and were followed up for 52 weeks. Primary end point was drug-free clinical remission, both at weeks 12 and 52. Among secondary outcomes were fulfillment of remission criteria at weeks 2, 12 or 52, time course of 'core set variables' and proportion of patients starting DMARDs.
results17.0% of all analysed subjects (65/383) achieved persistent remission: 17.8% (33/185) of the PL group, 16.2% (32/198) of the patients receiving methylprednisolone (OR=1.13, 95% CI 0.66 to 1.92, p=0.6847). Analyses of secondary end points showed significant clinical benefits of the GC only at week 2. These differences subsequently disappeared. DMARDs were started in 162 patients: 50.3% methylprednisolone and 56.7% PL patients had to start DMARD treatment (OR=0.78, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.22, p=0.30). Significantly more patients with polyarthritis than with oligoarthritis received DMARDs (OR=2.84, 95% CI 1.75 to 4.60, p<0.0001).
conclusionsNeither remission nor development of RA is delayed by GC treatment. Remission is rare in the first year of very early arthritis, occurring in <20% of the patients. Also, the need to start DMARDs was not influenced by GC treatment.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.