Key clinical point: In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in clinical remission, treat-to-target-based treatment escalations to biologics were more effective than escalation to conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARD) in improving magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) inflammation, physical function, and clinical disease activity.
Major finding: Escalation to first biologic vs. csDMARD escalation effectively reduced MRI osteitis (difference between least squares means [ ∆LSM] 1.8; 95% CI 1.0-2.6), Health Assessment Questionnaire score ( ∆LSM 0.08; 95% CI 0.03-0.1), MRI combined inflammation (∆LSM 2.5; 95% CI 0.9-4.1), and Simplified Disease Activity Index scores (∆LSM 2.7; 95% CI 1.9-3.5).
Study details: This study evaluated the impact of treatment intensification with csDMARDs and biologics in 100 patients with established RA in clinical remission from the IMAGINE-RA trial , who were randomly assigned to MRI treat-to-target strategy .
Disclosures: This research was funded by AbbVie. Some of the authors reported receiving grants and personal fees from various sources including AbbVie.
Source: Møller-Bisgaard S et al. Scand J Rheumatol. 2021 Sep 2. doi: 10.1080/03009742.2021.1935312.