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New definitions for flares in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) based on the Simplified and Clinical Disease Activity Indices (SDAI, CDAI) have been recently introduced.1 In this article, the authors defined flare as an absolute increase of 4.7 in SDAI and 4.5 in CDAI. Following this proposal we aimed at studying these cut-off values for absolute increases in SDAI and CDAI in diagnosing self-reported flares and treatment escalation in two separate real-world cohorts of patients with RA in France.
The first cohort included 101 patients with established RA,2 recruited between May 2016 and February 2018 and annually evaluated in day hospitalisation (table 1). We collected data from their initial visit and their 12-month follow-up. The second cohort consisted of 272 patients with established RA in remission or low disease activity, defined by SDAI ≤11 and CDAI ≤10. Among these patients, 73 had a second visit with data available 6.5±2 months after the first visit (table 1). Self-reported flares were reported in the first cohort and defined as a worsening in RA accompanied by at least one swollen and tender joint, as perceived by the patient. Treatment …
Footnotes
Handling editor Dimitrios T Boumpas
Contributors Study design: JA, YA. Data Acquisition: JA, MT, AC, SH, SC. Data analysis: JA. Writing/drafting and revisiting the manuscript: JA, YA. Final Approval of the manuscript: JA, MT, AC, SH, SC, YA.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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