Arco C. Verhoeven

Randomised comparison of combined step-down prednisolone, methotrexate and sulphasalazine with sulphasalazine alone in early rheumatoid arthritis

BACKGROUND The value of intensive combination therapy in early rheumatoid arthritis is unproven. In a multicentre, double-blind, randomised trial (COBRA), we compared the combination of sulphasalazine (2 g/day), methotrexate (7.5 mg/week), and prednisolone (initially 60 mg/day, tapered in 6 weekly steps to 7.5 mg/day) with sulphasalazine alone. METHODS 155 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (median duration 4 months) were randomly assigned combined treatment (76) or sulphasalazine alone (79). Prednisolone and methotrexate were tapered and stopped after 28 and 40 weeks, respectively. The main outcomes were the pooled index (a weighted change score of five disease activity measures) and the Sharp/Van der Heijde radiographic damage score in hands and feet. Independent health-care professionals assessed the main outcomes without knowledge of treatment allocation. FINDINGS At week 28, the mean pooled index was 1.4 (95% CI 1.2-1.6) in the combined treatment group and 0.8 (0.6-1.0) in the sulphasalazine group (p < 0.0001). At this time, 55 (72%) and 39 (49%) patients, respectively, were improved according to American College of Rheumatology criteria. The clinical difference between the groups decreased and was no longer significant after prednisolone was stopped, and there were no further changes after methotrexate was stopped. At 28 weeks, the radiographic damage score had increased by a median of 1 (range 0-28) in the combined-therapy group and 4 (0-44) in the sulphasalazine group (p < 0.0001). The increases at week 56 (2 [0-43] vs 6 [0-54], p = 0.004), and at week 80 (4 [0-80] vs 12 [0-72], p = 0.01) were also significant. Further analysis suggests that combined therapy immediately suppressed damage progression, whereas sulphasalazine did so less effectively and with a lag of 6 to 12 months. There were fewer withdrawals in the combined therapy than the sulphasalazine group (6 [8%] vs 23 [29%]), and they occurred later. INTERPRETATION This combined-therapy regimen offers additional disease control over and above that of sulphasalazine alone that persists for up to a year after corticosteroids are stopped. Although confirmatory studies and long-term follow-up are needed, this approach may prove useful in the treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis.

Influence of glucocorticoids and disease activity on total and high density lipoprotein cholesterol in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Background: Glucocorticoids induce hypercholesterolaemia, a cardiovascular risk factor, in patients with diseases other than rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the data in RA are contradictory. Objective: To determine the effects of antirheumatic treatment, including prednisolone (combination) therapy on total and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels in RA, taking disease activity into account. Methods: HDL cholesterol and total cholesterol levels were determined in:(a) established RA (b) two cohorts with early active RA, (c) a previously conducted 56 week trial among patients with early RA comparing the value of intensive combination therapy (that included glucocorticoids) with sulfasalazine alone (COBRA trial). Results: In established RA total cholesterol levels were only slightly raised, irrespective of disease activity. However, HDL cholesterol was significantly higher in patients in remission than in patients with active disease. In contrast, in active early RA at baseline total cholesterol was low normal: between 4.6 and 5.1 mmol/l in the different populations. The level of HDL cholesterol was highly dependent on the duration of storage. In both COBRA groups total cholesterol increased by a mean of 0.6 mmol/l. HDL cholesterol increased by more than 50% after treatment, leading to an improvement of the total cholesterol/HDL ratio (atherogenic index). This increase (and index improvement) was much more rapid in the group receiving combination treatment. A similar pattern was seen in the 2001 cohort with early RA. In all the groups with active disease HDL and total cholesterol levels correlated inversely with disease activity. Conclusion: In established, but especially in early RA, disease activity is accompanied by atherogenic lipid levels. This dyslipidaemia can be rapidly reversed by aggressive antirheumatic treatment including glucocorticoids.

Inflammation and damage in an individual joint predict further damage in that joint in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis

UNLABELLED OBJECTIVE; Several factors predict joint damage in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In the context of a trial in early RA, we studied the relationship between clinical signs in individual joints and their propensity to develop progressive damage. METHODS The COBRA (Combinatietherapie Bij Reumatoide Artritis) multicenter trial compared the efficacy of prednisolone, methotrexate, and sulfasalazine against sulfasalazine alone in 155 patients with early RA. Two blinded observers interpreted radiographs in sequence (using the Sharp/Van der Heijde scoring system); in each center, one blinded observer performed clinical assessments every 3 months. The current analysis is based on clinical and radiologic data of the individual metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints of 135 patients. Conditional stepwise logistic regression analyzed the relationship between damage (progression) and clinical signs at baseline and followup for each of these joints individually in each patient. RESULTS Combination therapy strongly retarded the progression of damage. Progression was stronger in patients with rheumatoid factor, HLA-DR4, and high levels of disease activity at baseline. At baseline, 6% of the MCP and PIP joints showed damage; after 1 year, disease had progressed in 10% of these joints. Baseline damage, swelling, or pain in a joint independently and strongly predicted the progression of damage in that joint (P < 0.001). Each additional point in the swelling score (range 0-2) tripled the risk for subsequent progression. Each additional point on the Sharp scale (range 0-8 per joint) and each additional point on the pain scale (range 0-3) doubled the risk. The mean pain and swelling scores over the year were even stronger predictors of damage. CONCLUSION Local expression of early RA disease activity, both at baseline and at 1-year followup, is strongly related to progression of damage in the individual joint.

Responsiveness of the core set, response criteria, and utilities in early rheumatoid arthritis

OBJECTIVE Validation of responsiveness and discriminative power of the World Health Organisation/International League of Associations for Rheumatology (WHO/ILAR) core set, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), and European League for Rheumatology (EULAR) criteria for improvement/response, and other single and combined measures (indices) in a trial in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS Ranking of measures by response (standardised response means and effect sizes) and between-group discrimination (unpaired ttest and χ2 values) at two time points in the COBRA study. This study included 155 patients with early RA randomly allocated to two treatment groups with distinct levels of expected response: combined treatment, high response; sulfasalazine treatment, moderate response. RESULTS At week 16, standardised response means of core set measures ranged between 0.8 and 3.5 for combined treatment and between 0.4 and 1.2 for sulfasalazine treatment (95% confidence interval ±0.25). Performance of patient oriented measures (for example, pain, global assessment) was best when the questions were focused on the disease. The most responsive single measure was the patients assessment of change in disease activity, at 3.5. Patient utility, a generic health status measure, was moderately (rating scale) to poorly (standard gamble) responsive. Response means of most indices (combined measures) exceeded 2.0, the simple count of core set measures improved by 20% was most responsive at 4.1. Discrimination performance yielded similar but not identical results: best discrimination between treatment groups was achieved by the EULAR response and ACR improvement criteria (at 20% and other percentage levels), the pooled index, and the disease activity score (DAS), but also by the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and grip strength. CONCLUSIONS Responsiveness and discrimination between levels of response are not identical concepts, and need separate study. The WHO/ILAR core set comprises responsive measures that discriminate well between different levels of response in early RA. However, the performance of patient oriented measures is highly dependent on their format. The excellent performance of indices such as the ACR improvement and EULAR response criteria confirms that they are the preferred primary end point in RA clinical trials.

Rheumatoid factor measured by fluoroimmunoassay: a responsive measure of rheumatoid arthritis disease activity that is associated with joint damage

Objectives: To determine whether rheumatoid factors (RFs), measured as continuous variables by time resolved fluoroimmunoassay, reflect disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Further, to study the association of RFs and other disease activity parameters with radiological joint damage, especially in individual patients. Methods: In active, early RA, IgM and IgA RFs, as well as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C reactive protein (CRP), tender joint score, and swollen joint score were assessed regularly. At the study start and at 56 and 80 weeks, radiographs of hands and feet were assessed by the Sharp score (van der Heijde modification). Associations between RFs and disease activity parameters were studied. In addition, associations between radiographic damage and disease activity parameters (baseline and time integrated) were analysed by non-parametric tests and multiple regression analysis. The relation between time integrated disease activity parameters and radiological damage in individual patients was analysed and visualised. Results: 155 patients were included. RF levels were strongly associated with the disease activity parameters (especially ESR and CRP) and with each other. All disease activity parameters, at baseline as well as time integrated parameters, were associated with (the progression of) radiographic damage. Moreover, in individual patients, a linear relationship between time integrated disease activity parameters and progression of radiological damage was seen. Conclusion: RFs, measured as continuous variables, can be considered as disease activity parameters in patients with RA. The level of RF at baseline and the exposure to RF over time is associated with radiological damage. In individual patients, there is a constant relation between disease activity and radiological damage.

American College of rheumatology criteria for improvement in rheumatoid arthritis should only be calculated from scores that decrease on improvement

OBJECTIVE Change in a patients condition is expressed as a percentage of the baseline value for a core set of measures in the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) improvement criteria for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and this is used as the basis to decide whether a patient has improved. The result is dependent on whether the underlying measure has a score that increases or decreases on improvement. We examined the importance of this effect in the application of the ACR improvement criteria. METHODS Data were obtained from the COBRA trial, in which 155 patients with early active RA had been randomized to receive either combination treatment with step-down prednisolone, methotrexate, and sulfasalazine or sulfasalazine alone. Patient and physician global assessments were recoded to reflect decreasing scores on improvement. The effects of this difference in scoring systems were compared among 3 response criteria levels (20%, 50%, and 70%) that are currently being used to assess improvement in RA clinical trials. RESULTS Analyses showed that the effects of a decreasing, versus increasing, score on the designation of improvement cannot be ignored, especially at higher percentages of improvement (e.g., 50%, 70%). CONCLUSION We recommend that percentage improvement in RA be calculated only on scores that decrease on improvement. When necessary, raw data should be recoded before the ACR improvement criteria are applied.