A new hybrid measure of response to therapy in rheumatoid arthritis is more sensitive than the standard American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20%, 50%, and 70% response criteria, a post-hoc analysis showed.
The post-hoc analysis of the hybrid score -- which combines the ACR20/50/70 scores with percent change from baseline in multiple disease domains -- used data from 982 patients with active RA in a randomized phase III trial and found significant differences between groups throughout the study, according Ronald van Vollenhoven, MD, PhD, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and colleagues.
The analysis determined that after one week of treatment with a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor, only 88 of 385 patients had achieved an ACR20 response, yet 197 (51.2%) had experienced an improvement of at least 20%, the researchers reported in the January issue of Arthritis Care & Research.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumatology/Arthritis/24145