ArticleRMD open2018
Comparison between low disease activity or DAS remission as treatment target in patients with early active rheumatoid arthritis.
Article in RMD open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Remission Induction Strategies for Early Rheumatoid Arthritis: a Systematic Literature Review.Current rheumatology reports · 2019Pooled it
- Individual patient disease activity expression profiles modify the relation between disease activity and structural damage progression in RA.EULAR rheumatology open · 2026Article
- Is Disease Stability an Attainable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Treatment Goal?American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2025Review
- Pragmatic targets for moderate/severe SLE and their implications for clinical care and trial design: sustained DORIS or LLDAS for at least 6 months is sufficient while their attainment for at least 24 months ensures high specificity for damage-free progression.Annals of the rheumatic diseases · 2024Article
- Remission vs low disease activity: function, quality of life and structural outcomes in the Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Study and Network.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo compare outcomes of targeted treatment aimed at either low disease activity or remission in patients with early active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
methodsFive-year outcomes were compared in 133 patients with early active RA (1987), starting with methotrexate, sulfasalazine and tapered high dose of prednisone (arm 3 of the BehandelStrategieën (Treatment Strategies for Rheumatoid Arthritis) (BeSt) study), targeted at Disease Activity Score (DAS) ≤2.4 (low disease activity), and 175 patients with early RA, starting methotrexate and tapered high dose of prednisone, targeted at DAS <1.6 (selected from IMPROVED study who would have fulfilled inclusion criteria of the BeSt study). Association of treatment target with outcomes DAS <1.6, Boolean remission at year 1 and drug-free DAS remission (DFR) at year 5 were analysed by logistic regression analysis.
resultsAt baseline, DAS <1.6 steered patients had a milder disease than DAS ≤2.4 steered patients (mean DAS 4.1±SD 0.7vs4.4±0.9, p=0.012) and less radiological damage. DAS decrease, functional ability and radiological damage progression over time were similar in both patient groups. DAS ≤2.4 was achieved in similar percentages in both patient groups, but more DAS <1.6 steered patients achieved DAS <1.6 and DFR. DAS <1.6 steered treatment was associated with achieving DAS <1.6 (OR 3.04 (95% CI 1.64 to 5.62)) and Boolean remission (3.03 (1.45 to 6.33)) at year 1 and DFR at year 5 (3.77 (1.51 to 9.43)).
conclusionsIn patients with early active RA who start with comparable disease-modifying antirheumatic drug+prednisone combination therapy, subsequent DAS <1.6 steered treatment is associated with similar clinical and radiological outcomes over time as DAS ≤2.4 steered treatment; however, in the DAS <1.6 steered group, more patients achieved remission and drug-free remission.
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