Despite the proven efficacy of biosimilars, both patients and health care providers often have some reluctance when switching from an originator drug to a biosimilar.
The levels of disease activity after 6 months of tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors could help predict the response to therapy at 4 years for those who have long-standing rheumatoid arthritis.
Focusing on the identification and management specific multimorbidity patterns among patients with RA may increase achievement of treatment goals and improve long-term patient outcomes.
RA disease activity assessment
Keeping your rheumatoid arthritis well-controlled is one of the best things you can do for your joints and your heart. According to a study published in the journal
Arthritis & Rheumatology, people whose RA was in remission were 53 percent less likely to experience a serious cardiovascular event during the study’s three-year follow-up period.
Your rheumatologist should be assessing your RA disease activity at least once a year using a scoring tool that is approved by the American College of Rheumatology. There are many different ways to measure RA disease activity, but each involves different combinations of assessing factors like counts of painful and swollen joints, blood tests for inflammatory markers, and patients’ and physicians’ reports of pain and function in everyday life. They include: