Treatment aims and strategies
| Response rate (%) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Question | Rheumatologists (n=870) | Other (n=131) |
| (A) Treatment aims of rheumatologists | ||
| Clinical remission (measured using a composite index) | 67.9 | 42.7 |
| Patient satisfaction with response | 54.7 | 42.0 |
| No structural progression | 54.4 | 33.6 |
| No functional deterioration | 46.7 | 29.8 |
| Prevention of disability | 42.6 | 38.2 |
| Low disease activity (measured using a composite score) | 34.9 | 27.5 |
| Good clinical response by my own judgment | 34.8 | 27.5 |
| 70% Improvement of clinical activity | 30.8 | 22.1 |
| 50% Improvement of clinical activity | 21.0 | 24.4 |
| Moderate disease activity (measured using a composite index) | 8.5 | 13.0 |
| Any type of response | 7.1 | 13.0 |
| 20% Improvement of clinical activity | 5.5 | 8.4 |
| Other | 1.0 | 3.8 |
| Do not know | 0.5 | 6.1 |
| (B) Assessment of treatment success | ||
| Percentage improvement or absolute improvement by continuous disease activity indices (eg, DAS28, SDAI) | 67.6 | 45.8 |
| I judge the presence of a clinical state (eg, high or low disease activity) | 59.1 | 51.1 |
| Traditional ACR response criteria | 34.7 | 41.2 |
| Do not know | 0.5 | 6.9 |
| Other | 2.6 | 4.6 |
| (C) Reasons for the modification of treatment | ||
| Persistently high disease activity | 76.4 | 58.8 |
| Significant radiographic progression (irrespective of clinical state) | 63.8 | 49.6 |
| Patient-reported difficulties with daily activities | 52.0 | 58.0 |
| Persistently moderate disease activity | 49.8 | 29.8 |
| Patient dissatisfaction with response | 48.9 | 40.5 |
| Not reaching remission | 42.3 | 23.7 |
| Do not know | 0.7 | 7.6 |
Indicated are the percentages of respondents to each question, separately for rheumatologists and non-rheumatologists.
ACR, American College of Rheumatology; DAS28, 28 joint count Disease Activity Score; SDAI, Simplified Disease Activity Index.