Utilities by the time trade-off (TTO) and standard gamble were able to detect improvement in overall quality of life with anti-rheumatic treatment in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), suggesting applicability in clinical trials, a recent study found. Researchers measured TTO and standard gamble utilities in 192 patients before and after escalation of anti-rheumatic treatment in a prospective longitudinal study. They found:

• Mean TTO at baseline was 0.68 (median 0.82) and mean standard gamble 0.80 (median 0.93).
• Both utilities improved significantly with treatment.
• Standardized response means, a measure of responsiveness, were 0.37 for the TTO and 0.20 for the standard gamble, and comparable to those of 2 mental health measures and c-reactive protein (CRP), but lower than other RA activity measures.