Footnotes

• Contributors PMM drafted the manuscript and is the first author of the ASDAS cut-offs manuscript published in 2011. DvdH led the discussion at the ASAS 2018 annual meeting and is the senior author of the ASDAS cut-offs manuscript published in 2011. RL was the president of ASAS at the ASAS 2018 annual meeting and a coauthor of the ASDAS cut-offs manuscript published in 2011. All authors read, commented on, and approved the final manuscript.

• Funding PMM is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) University College London Hospitals (UCLH) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

• Disclaimer The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the (UK) National Health Service (NHS), the NIHR or the (UK) Department of Health.

• Competing interests PMM has received consulting/speaker’s fees from AbbVie, Centocor, Janssen, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer and UCB Pharma. RL has received consulting fees and/or research grants and/or speaker’s bureau from Abbott, Ablynx, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Centocor, Glaxo-Smith-Kline, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Schering-Plough, UCB Pharma and Wyeth. DvdH has received consulting fees from AbbVie, Amgen, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Daiichi, Eli-Lilly, Galapagos, Gilead, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, Sanofi and UCB Pharma and is the director of Imaging Rheumatology BV.

• Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.