Remission in rheumatoid arthritis: agreement of the disease activity score (DAS28) with the ARA preliminary remission criteria

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2004 Oct;43(10):1252-5. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keh297. Epub 2004 Jul 6.

Abstract

Objective: To determine which cut-off point in the RA disease activity score (DAS28) corresponds to fulfilment of the ARA criteria for clinical remission.

Methods: The disease activity of patients included in the Nijmegen RA inception cohort was systematically assessed every 3 months. For all visits, a modification of the ARA preliminary criteria for clinical remission was applied and the DAS28 was calculated. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to determine the cut-off point with maximum sensitivity and specificity in DAS28 corresponding with fulfilment of the modified ARA criteria.

Results: Three hundred and seventy-eight patients contributed 4378 visits. In 6.5% of the visits four of the five items and in 1.5% all five items of the modified ARA criteria were fulfilled. The optimal cut-off point for the DAS28 that corresponds to fulfilment of the modified ARA criteria was determined to be 2.66.

Conclusion: DAS28 <2.6 corresponds to fulfilment of the preliminary ARA criteria for clinical remission in RA.

MeSH terms

  • Antirheumatic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid / drug therapy
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid / physiopathology*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • ROC Curve
  • Remission Induction
  • Severity of Illness Index

Substances

  • Antirheumatic Agents