Author: Sytske Anne Bergstra
Li et al. (OP002) developed a deep learning AI-method that automatically analyzed extremity MR scans, in order to predict RA at an early stage. Using data from 1247 early onset arthritis (EAC) patients, of whom 538 developed RA, and 727 clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA) patients, of whom 113 developed RA, they developed a model that performed close to the level of human experts: area under the curve (AUC) AI model 0.683 in the EAC group and 0.727 in the CSA group, compared to reported AUCs of 0.74 and 0.69 in human experts.
Stefano et al. (OP0301) used data from a cohort of 749 patients with 24 months follow-up to study which thresholds of the patient global assessment were capable of identifying sustained suppression of inflammation and physical functioning in early RA related to autoantibody status. The best cut-off values of the patient global assessment capable of predicting persistence of remission and normal function was a stringent threshold of ≤10 in autoantibody positive patients, but ≤20 in autoantibody negative patients.
Kimbrough et al. (POS1067) examined associations between 55 morbidities with serious infections (SI) in 911 RA patients. Each additional comorbidity increased the risk of SI with 11% to 16%. 26/55 comorbidities were associated with the risk of SI, which were not completely accounted for in previously developed risk scores.
Zhao et al. (POS0054) investigated the association between socioeconomic deprivation and outcomes in 17,117 RA patients receiving TNFi treatment. The 20% most deprived patients had 0.3-unit higher 6-month DAS28 scores (95% CI 0.22-0.37) than the least deprived patients and were more likely to discontinue treatment (HR 1.19, 1.13-1.25).
Van Mulligen et al. (POS0369) investigated whether early identification and treatment of RA patients (n=431), within 12 weeks after symptom onset, resulted in a reduction of treatment related costs over 5 years, when compared to a patient group that was seen after 12 weeks after symptom onset, stratified for ACPA status. within ACPA-negative RA costs were lower in the early compared to the late group (€2877 versus €4213), β=1.46 (95%CI 0.32–3.4). For ACPA-positive patients, costs were more similar (€11631 and €10988 for the early and late group, β=0.96, 95% CI 0.52–1.8)).
Konzett et al. (POS0980) performed a systematic literature search to compare response patterns of the ACR 20, 50 and 70 response in phase 3 b/tsDMARD trials. The ACR20 response was most discriminative between active treatment and placebo at early timepoints, whereas the discriminative capacity of the ACR50 and 70 definitions increased over time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sytske Anne Bergstra
Sytske Anne works as a post-doctoral researcher at the department of rheumatology of the Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands.
She also works as a project coordinator for the METEOR registry.
Her main research interests are in the field of rheumatoid arthritis. Sytske Anne is a member of the Social Media Sub-Committee.