Risk of losing remission, low disease activity or radiographic progression in case of bDMARD discontinuation or tapering in rheumatoid arthritis: systematic analysis of the literature and meta-analysis -

Risk of losing remission, low disease activity or radiographic progression in case of bDMARD discontinuation or tapering in rheumatoid arthritis: systematic analysis of the literature and meta-analysis
Information type: Systematic reviews
Source: Annals of Rheumatic Diseases
Specialities: Musculo-skeletal disorders
Summary
In people with arthritis with disease remission or low disease activity (LDA), biological DMARD discontinuation increased risk of losing remission (RR 1.97; 95% CI 1.43-2.73) or LDA (2.24; 1.52-3.30; both p<0.0001) and of radiographic progression (1.09; 1.02-1.17; p=0.01).
UKMi comment
The analysis of studies evaluating biological DMARD tapering found that this was associated with an increased risk of losing remission versus continuing treatment (RR 1.23; 95% CI 1.06-1.42; P=0.006) but there was no increased risk of loss of LDA or of radiographic progression.
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