Physical function continues to improve when clinical remission is sustained in rheumatoid arthritis patients

To investigate the course of functional status assessed by health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with sustained clinical remission (REM). In recent RA clinical trials, we identified patients with subsequent visits of ≥24 weeks in clinical REM according to the disease activity score using 28-joint counts including C-reactive protein (DAS28) (≤2.6), or simplified disease activity index (SDAI) (≤3.3). Area under the curve (AUC) and mean HAQ scores throughout the time in sustained REM were compared using t test, analyses of variance (ANOVA) and adjusted genera... Mehr ...