Clinical trials demonstrate that intensive treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis with a combination of DMARDs improves short-term outcomes. An extension study from a pivotal trial has now shown that such intensive early therapy can achieve a reduction in the rate of erosive progression over a period of 11 years.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Rantalaiho, V. et al. Early combination disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy and tight disease control improve long-term radiologic outcome in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis: the 11-year results of the Finnish Rheumatoid Arthritis Combination Therapy trial. Arthritis Res. Ther. 12, R122 (2010).
Möttönen, T. et al. Comparison of combination therapy with single-drug therapy in early rheumatoid arthritis: a randomised trial. FIN-RACo trial group. Lancet 353, 1568–1573 (1999).
Scott, D. L., Smith, C. & Kingsley, G. Joint damage and disability in rheumatoid arthritis: an updated systematic review. Clin. Exp. Rheumatol. 21 (5 Suppl. 31), S20–S27 (2003).
Deighton, C. et al. Management of rheumatoid arthritis: summary of NICE guidance. BMJ 338, b702 (2009).
Smolen, J. S. et al. EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis with synthetic and biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 69, 964–975 (2010).
van Tuyl, L. H. et al. Survival, comorbidities and joint damage 11 years after the COBRA combination therapy trial in early rheumatoid arthritis. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 69, 807–812 (2010).
Goekoop-Ruiterman, Y. P. et al. Comparison of treatment strategies in early rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized trial. Ann. Intern. Med. 146, 406–415 (2007).
Ma, M. H., Kingsley, G. H. & Scott, D. L. A systematic comparison of combination DMARD therapy and tumour necrosis inhibitor therapy with methotrexate in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology 49, 91–98 (2010).
Finckh, A. et al. Treatment of very early rheumatoid arthritis with symptomatic therapy, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, or biologic agents: a cost-effectiveness analysis. Ann. Intern. Med. 151, 612–621 (2009).
van Baarsen, L. G., Bos, C. L., van der Pouw Kraan, T. C. & Verweij, C. L. Transcription profiling of rheumatic diseases. Arthritis Res. Ther. 11, 207 (2009).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Scott, D., Kowalczyk, A. Tight control in early RA pays off in the long run. Nat Rev Rheumatol 6, 623–624 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2010.174
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2010.174