A review of the association between radiographic progression and the sustained remission and good treatment response showed markedly less deterioration in Larson score among patients in sustained remission, compared with those who achieved remission at the 6-month visit but did not sustain it, according to the investigators. Because sustained remissions were more common in the combination-therapy patients, it follows that such treatment would be associated with better radiographic outcomes, they said.
While the study was limited by its assessment of remission only at the 6-, 12-, and 24-month time points—leaving open the possibility that patients in remission at those time points could have experienced active disease flares between visits—previous studies have shown that such flares are often linked to discontinuation of therapy while in remission. “In our study, combination therapy was continued successfully for 2 years, and half the patients remained in sustained DAS28 remission,” the authors wrote.
The findings of this study suggest that sustained remission, rather than remission, should be the goal of DMARD therapy, the authors concluded.