About this Medicine article

Characteristics of Patients with Difficult-to-treat Rheumatoid Arthritis in Clinical Practice by Satoshi Takanashi; Yuko Kaneko; Tsutomu Takeuchi is a Medicine article available to read on EtoBox.

## Abstract ## Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with difficult-to-treat RA (D2T RA) and the usefulness of switching to drugs with different modes of action in real-world. ## Methods We reviewed all consecutive patients with RA treated at Keio University Hospital between 2016 and 2017 with a definition of D2T RA. We analysed clinical characteristics and evaluated the usefulness of changing drugs according to mode of action. ## Results Among 1709 patients with RA, 173 (10.1%) were D2T RA. The reason for the D2T RA was multi-drug resistance in 59 patients (34.1%), comorbidity in 17 (9.8%), and socio-economic reasons in 97 (56.1%). The multi-drug-resistance group had significantly higher tender joint count and evaluator global assessment than the other groups, despite receiving the most intensive treatment. The comorbidity group showed a significantly older age and higher rheumatic disease comorbidity index. Although changing the drug to another with a different mode of action was useful, the proportion of patients who achieved remission or low disease activity decreased as the number of switches increased. ## Conclusion Of th

Author

Satoshi Takanashi; Yuko Kaneko; Tsutomu Takeuchi

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Published

2021

Language

EN

Field

Medicine (Health Sciences)