Rheumatoid arthritis patients with predominantly tender joints rarely achieve clinical remission despite being in ultrasound remission

Having More Tender Than Swollen Joints is Associated With Worse Function and Work Impairment in Patients With Early Rheumatoid Arthritis

OBJECTIVE

Patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may present with more tender than swollen joints, which can persist. Elevated tender-swollen joint difference (TSJD) is often challenging, because there may be multiple causes and it may contribute to overestimating disease activity. Little is known about the phenotype and impact of TSJDs on patient function. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of TSJD on functional outcomes in early RA and to see whether associations vary by joint size.

METHODS

Data were from patients with active, early RA (≤12 months) enrolled in the Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort, who completed assessments of general function (Multidimensional Health Assessment Questionnaire [MDHAQ]), upper extremity (UE) function (Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders [Neuro-QoL] UE scale), and work/activity impairment (Work Productivity and Activity Impairment RA) over their first year of follow-up. A total of 28 joint counts were performed. TSJDs were calculated. Adjusted associations between TSJDs and functional outcomes were estimated in separate multivariable linear mixed effects models. Separate analyses were performed for large- versus small-joint TSJD.

RESULTS

Patients (N = 547) were 70% female, mean age 56 (SD 15) years, mean disease duration 5.3 (SD 2.9) months. At baseline, 287 (52%) had TSJD >0 (43% involved large joints and 34% small joints), decreasing to 32% at 12 months. A one-point increase in TSJD was significantly associated with worse function (MDHAQ: adjusted mean change 0.10, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.08-0.13; Neuro-QoL UE function T score: adjusted mean change -0.59, 95% CI -0.76 to -0.43; and greater work impairment: adjusted mean change 1.95%, 95% CI 0.85%-3.05%). Higher large-joint TSJDs were associated with the worst functional outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Having more tender than swollen joints is common in early RA and is associated with worse function, most notably when involving large joints. Early identification and targeted intervention strategies may be needed.

EXPLORing Arthritis with Total-body Positron Emission Tomography

Arthritis has significant adverse consequences on musculoskeletal tissues and often other organs of the body. Current methods for clinical evaluation of arthritis are suboptimal, and biomarkers that are objective and measurable indicators for monitoring of arthritis disease activity are in critical demand. Recently, total-body positron emission tomography (PET) has been developed that can collect imaging signals synchronously from the entire body at ultra-low doses and reduced scan times. These scanners have increased signal collection efficiency that overcomes several limitations of standard PET scanners in the evaluation of arthritis, and they may potentially provide biomarkers to assess local and systemic impact of the arthritis disease process. This article reviews current results from using total-body PET in the assessment of common arthritic conditions, and it outlines future opportunities and challenges.

Calprotectin, a sensitive marker of inflammation, is robustly assessed in plasma from patients with early or established rheumatoid arthritis by use of different laboratory methods

Calprotectin (S100A8/S100A9, MRP8/MRP14) is a major leukocyte protein found to be more sensitive than C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) as a marker of inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The present objective was to explore the robustness of calprotectin assessments by comparing two different laboratory methods assessing calprotectin in plasma samples from patients with early or established RA. A total of 212 patients with early RA (mean (SD) age 52(13.3) years, disease duration 0.6(0.5) years) and 177 patients with established RA (mean (SD) age 52.9(13.0) years, disease duration 10.0(8.8) years) were assessed by clinical, laboratory, and ultrasound examinations. Frozen plasma samples (-80 °C) were analysed for calprotectin levels at baseline, 1, 2, 3, 6 and 12 months by use of either enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or fluoroenzyme immunoassay (FEIA). The ELISA technique used kits from Calpro AS and the FEIA technology was assessed on an automated Thermo Fisher Scientific instrument. The results showed high correlations between the two methods at baseline and during follow-up, with Spearman correlation at baseline 0.93 (p < 0.001) in the early and 0.96 (p < 0.001) in the established RA cohorts. The correlations between each of the two calprotectin assessments and clinical examinations had similar range. Calprotectin correlated well with clinical examinations, with at least as high correlations as CRP and ESR. The present study showed similar results for the two analytical methods, supporting the robustness of calprotectin analyses, and suggest calprotectin in plasma to be included in the assessments offered by clinical routine laboratories.

Remission or Not Remission, That's the Question: Shedding Light on Remission and the Impact of Objective and Subjective Measures Reflecting Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Introduction

The inclusion of certain variables in remission formulas for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may give rise to discrepancies. An increase in patient global assessment (PGA), a variable showing the patient's self-evaluation of their disease activity, may alone tilt a patient out of remission when using certain remission-assessing methods. This study aimed to explore differences in remission rates among various formulas and the impact of PGA and other clinical variables on the calculation of remission.

Methods

Data were collected from RA patients monitored during the years 2015–2019 at an outpatient clinic in southern Norway. Linear and logistic regression assessed associations between PGA, other RA-related variables, and remission-assessing methods.

Results

Remission rates were 23%, 65%, and 73% in 2019 when assessing the same 502 RA patients using Boolean remission, Boolean remission without PGA, and the disease activity score (DAS) with C-reactive peptide [DAS28(3)-CRP] method, respectively. Among the same population that year, 27% reported PGA ≤ 10, 74% had a tender joint count of ≤ 1, 85% had a swollen joint count of ≤ 1, and 86% had CRP ≤ 10. Pain (standardized coefficient β = 0.7, p < 0.001) was most strongly associated with PGA. Pain, fatigue, and morning stiffness were substantially associated with the remission-assessing methods that incorporated PGA.

Conclusions

Since PGA is strongly associated with the patient’s perception of pain and may not reflect the inflammatory process, our study challenges the application of remission-assessing methods containing PGA when monitoring RA patients in the outpatient clinic. We recommend using measures that are less likely to be associated with noninflammatory pain and psychosocial factors.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40744-022-00490-5.

Controversies in rheumatology: Ultrasound for monitoring of RA - do we need it?

Clinical joint examination is the cornerstone for evaluation of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, since large discrepancies have been shown even between experienced rheumatologists in evaluation of joint inflammation, and tender joints may have limited value in reflecting inflammation, ultrasound has in the last decennials been introduced in the clinical assessments of RA patients. Ultrasound has high accordance with other imaging modalities and enables detection of clinically difficult pathologies and contributes to assessments of joints difficult to evaluate clinically. However, there is no general agreement on the optimal use of ultrasound in rheumatology and the prevalence of machines as well as the level of experience is highly different across the countries. In addition, standardized use of ultrasound in treat-to-target follow-up of RA patients was found not to have any added value. Thus, how to use ultrasound in monitoring of RA patients is open for debate. The present article will discuss the pros and cons for using ultrasound in the clinical setting.