Key clinical point: Younger patients and patients with higher disability scores at early stages were more likely to develop difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Thus focusing on severe disability during initial stages may alter disease course.
Major finding: Elevated initial disability score (odds ratio [OR] 1.89; P = .01) and a younger age at baseline (OR 0.95; P = .01) were associated with an increased risk for difficult-to-treat RA, whereas initial disease activity failed to show any influence.
Study details: The data come from a longitudinal, prospective cohort study including 631 patients with newly diagnosed RA, of which 35 patients developed difficult-to-treat RA.
Disclosures: This study was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain, and other sources. The authors did not declare any conflicts of interest.
Source: Leon L et al. Difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis (D2T RA): Clinical issues at early stages of disease. RMD Open . 2023;9:e002842 (Mar 8). Doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2022-002842