Page 161 - THE EVOLUTION OF EARLY ARTHRITIS AND CARDIOVASCULAR RISK Samina A. Turk

DO PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS IN REMISSION FEEL NORMAL AGAIN?
time points, and another 4 at both 13 and 26 weeks. Correspondingly, 0, 13 and 13 patients were in Boolean remission respectively, with 8 at both 13 and 26 weeks. Self- reported and Boolean remission were often not concordant (Table 2).
Table 2. Concordance between patient self-reported remission and the ACR/EULAR Boolean based remission definition (in percentage)
Patient self-reported remission
Week 13
Week 26
Yes No Total
(30) (17) (47)
Yes No Total
(31) (13) (44)
24 4 28
27 2 30
40 32 72
43 27 70
64 36 100
70 30 100
ACR/EULAR Boolean remission
(n)
Yes (13) No (34)
(13) (31)
Total (47) (44)
Compared to patients not in remission, those in remission felt more normal at follow up (Figure 2). At week 26, the results for normality were numerically similar and significant for both self-perceived and Boolean remission definitions: patients in remission scored mean (95%CI) 6.6 (1.9; 11.1, p=0.007) and 8.2 (3.5; 12.9, p=0.001) higher on the normality scale, respectively. At week 13, only patients in self-perceived remission scored significantly higher: 7.6 (3.6; 11.7, p<0.001) and 3.8 (–1.0; 8.7, p=0.119), respectively.
Figure 2. Normality scores, categorized by presence of (n/N): Patient perceived remission (week 0: 6/47; week 13: 30/47; week 26: 32/46); ACR/EULAR Boolean remission (week 0: 0/47; week 13: 13/47; week 26: 13/45)
8
* significant difference in normality score between patients in, and patients not in remission (p<0.05)
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