The likelihood of achieving remission based on ACR/EULAR criteria is 52 percent higher when a patient with RA is treated to target, real world data presented at ACR15 shows.

Results from the BIODAM study led by Sofia Ramiro, Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands also found that treat-to-target-strategies (remission and low disease activity) led to lower disease activity.

And patients who had never received DMARDs were more likely to go into remission when following a treat-to-target strategy compared to those who had never taken them.

“A treat-to-target approach, even with a modest benchmark (low disease activity, or DAS28 less than 3.2), works immediately and leads to higher remission rates,” concluded Dr. Ramiro and her team.

“Rheumatologists should be encouraged to follow a treat-to-target approach in order to improve the outcome of their patients,” she said.

The study followed 539 patients over the course of two years in a total of 3,084 visits. The patients had an average age of 56 years; 76 percent were female; they had RA for an average of 6 years; and 49 percent had never taken a DMARD.

Dr. Ramiro’s team looked at disease activity three months after each visit to assess the efficacy of the treat-to-target strategy. Disease activity outcomes were measured as ACR/EULAR boolean remission, DAS28 remission (less than 2.6), DAS28-LDA (less than 3.2), and also according to two other instruments used to assess disease activity (Clinical Disease Activity Index — CDAI — and Simplified Disease Activity Index – SDAI).