Dataset Information

Empirical evidence of disease activity thresholds used to indicate need for major therapeutic change in US veterans with rheumatoid arthritis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A previous analysis of the Veterans Affairs Rheumatoid Arthritis (VARA) registry showed that more than half of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) did not receive a major therapeutic change (MTC) despite moderate or severe disease activity. We aimed to empirically determine disease activity thresholds associated with a decision by rheumatologists and nurse practitioners to institute a MTC in patients with RA and to report the impact of that change on RA disease activity.

Methods

We analyzed data from the VARA registry between January 1, 2006, and September 30, 2017. Eligible patients had a visit with 3 disease activity measures (DAMs) recorded: Disease Activity Score for 28 joints (DAS28), Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI), and Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 (RAPID3). The Youden Index was used to identify disease activity thresholds that best discriminated rheumatologist/nurse practitioner decision to initiate MTC. Clinical outcome was 20% improvement in the American College of Rheumatology criteria (ACR20 response). The effect of MTC on ACR20 response was presented as crude descriptive statistics and evaluated using G-computation for marginal and conditional effects with established disease activity level combined with an empirical threshold from Youden analysis.

Results

The study population comprised 1776 patients (12,094 visits: 3077 with MTC, 9017 without MTC). Empirical thresholds (95% bootstrap confidence interval with 1000 replications) for MTC were 4.03 (3.70-4.36) for DAS28, 12.9 (10.4-15.4) for CDAI, and 3.81 (3.32-4.30) for RAPID3. Visits with MTC had increased likelihood of ACR20 response: risk ratios for ACR20 response for visits with MTC vs without MTC ranged 1.2-2.6 across DAMs; risk differences ranged 0.2-14.5%.

Conclusions

MTC was associated with clinical improvement across all DAMs with the greatest change in patients with RA disease activity above the Youden threshold identified in this work.

Trial registration

VARA Registry, https://www.hsrd.

Research

va.gov/research/abstracts.cfm?Project_ID=2141698764.

SUBMITTER: Sauer BC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7579862 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Empirical evidence of disease activity thresholds used to indicate need for major therapeutic change in US veterans with rheumatoid arthritis.

Sauer Brian C BC Chen Wei W Xu Yizhe Y Shen Jincheng J Accortt Neil A NA Collier David H DH Cannon Grant W GW

Arthritis research & therapy 20201022 1

<h4>Background</h4>A previous analysis of the Veterans Affairs Rheumatoid Arthritis (VARA) registry showed that more than half of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) did not receive a major therapeutic change (MTC) despite moderate or severe disease activity. We aimed to empirically determine disease activity thresholds associated with a decision by rheumatologists and nurse practitioners to institute a MTC in patients with RA and to report the impact of that change on RA disease activit ...[more]

PMID: 33092642

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Project description:Lower levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol may be associated with increased cardiovascular (CV) risk in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study was undertaken to determine whether the complex relationship between levels of LDL and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and CV risk is different in RA patients as compared to non-RA controls.Using data from a US health insurance plan (2003-2012), we conducted a cohort study that included patients with RA and non-RA control subjects matched with regard to age, sex, and index date. The nonlinearity of associations between lipid levels and incidence of major adverse CV events (MACE) was tested. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models to examine for an interaction between lipid levels and RA status in relation to the risk of MACE, after adjustment for CV risk factors.In total, 16,085 RA patients and 48,499 non-RA controls were studied. The mean age was 52.6 years and 78.6% were women. The relationship between LDL cholesterol levels and incidence of MACE was nonlinear and similar between RA patients and non-RA controls (P for interaction?=?0.72). No significant increase in CV risk was observed between the lowest quintile of LDL cholesterol levels (?91.0 mg/dl) and the second, third, or fourth quintiles, whereas the highest quintile (>190.0 mg/dl) conveyed a 40% increase in risk of MACE (hazard ratio [HR] 1.40, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.17-1.68). The relationship between HDL cholesterol levels and incidence of MACE was also nonlinear and similar between RA patients and non-RA controls (P for interaction?=?0.39). Compared to the lowest quintile of HDL cholesterol levels, each successive quintile was associated with a reduced risk of MACE (HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.48-0.72 for lowest quintile [?43.0 mg/dl] versus highest quintile [>71.0 mg/dl]).The complex relationship between LDL cholesterol levels, HDL cholesterol levels, and risk of MACE was nonlinear in RA patients and also not statistically significantly different from that in an age- and sex-matched non-RA cohort.

Dataset Information

Empirical evidence of disease activity thresholds used to indicate need for major therapeutic change in US veterans with rheumatoid arthritis.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Trial registration

Research

Publications

Empirical evidence of disease activity thresholds used to indicate need for major therapeutic change in US veterans with rheumatoid arthritis.

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