Baseline characteristics of patients and treatment strategies in steering strategy trials
| Study | Arms (n) | Adjustment if | Frequent visits | Median (IQR)/mean age±SD at inclusion | Women (%) | Median (IQR)/mean±SD disease duration since diagnosis | RF+ (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TICORA5 | Intensive (55) | DAS>2, 4 | Monthly | 51±15 | 71 | 19±16 months | 75 |
| Conventional (55) | Judgment of rheumatologist | 3-Monthly | 54±11 | 69 | 20±16 months | 73 | |
| CAMERA6 | I (151) | No SJC+2 of: ≤3 TJC, ≤20 ESR, ≤20 VASpt global | Monthly | 54±14 | 69 | <1 year | 66 |
| Conventional (148) | Judgment of rheumatologist | 3-Monthly | 53±15 | 66 | <1 year | 62 | |
| Fransen et al7 | DAS guided (79) | DAS28≥3.2 | Monthly | 57±11 | 67 | 6 (3–14) years | 84 |
| Conventional (75) | Judgment of rheumatologist | N/A | 57±10 | 62 | 4 (2–10) years | 87 | |
| BROSG8 | Aggressive care by rheumatologist (233) | CRP>2× normal | 4-Monthly | 60.4±11.1 | 68 | 12.6±6.7 years | N/A |
| Symptomatic care (233) | Based on nurse interview | 4-Monthly | 60.8±11.3 | 68 | 12.5±6.8 years | N/A | |
| van Hulst et al10 | DAS steered (144) | DAS28>3.2 | 3-Monthly | 58 | 60 | 9 years | 75 |
| Conventional (104) | Judgment of rheumatologist | 3-Monthly | 60 | 65 | 6 years | 79 | |
| Allaart et al11 | DAS steered (arm 1 and 2 BeSt) (247) | DAS>2, 4 | 3-Monthly | 54±13 and 54±13 | 68 and 71 | 2 (1–5) and 2 (1–4) weeks | 65 |
| Conventional (N/A) | Judgment of rheumatologist | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| Stenger et al12 | Intensive high risk (78) | <50% CRP decrease | N/A | 58 (20–72) | 65 | 6.5±3, 2 months | 91 |
| Intensive low risk (61) | 49 (18–72) | 75 | 7.0±3.4 | 69 | |||
| Routine care high risk (42) | Judgment of rheumatologist | 54 (24–72) | 67 | 7.5±3.3 | 100 | ||
| Routine care low risk (47) | 46 (17–70) | 68 | 7.0±3.6 | 79 | |||
| van der Woude et al13 | DAS steered (all arms BeSt) (508) | DAS>2, 4 | 3-Monthly | N/A | N/A | Longer | N/A |
| Conventional (410) | Judgment of rheumatologist | − | Shorter | ||||
| van Tuyl et al14 | DAS steered (11) | If goal not met | 2-Monthly | 52±14 | 73 | 2±2 months | 73 |
| CTX-II steered (10) | 50±13 | 60 | 4±6 months | 78 | |||
| Edmonds et al15 | SJC steered (85) | SJC≥3 | N/A | 56±12 years | N/A | 7.2±6.6 months | N/A |
| CRP steered (82) | Elevated CRP | ||||||
| Conventional (82) | Judgment of rheumatologist | ||||||
| Brenol et al31 | Intensive (241) | DAS28<2.6 or <3.2 | Minimum | 54.9±11.89 | 85 | 10 years | N/A |
| CDAI<2.8 or <10 | 4 monthly | ||||||
| Proudman et al32 | Intensive (61) | Based on SJC ESR/CRP; TJC fatigue | N/A | 56±14 | 76 | <24 weeks | 61 |
| Kuper et al33 | Intensive (190) | DAS28<2.6 | N/A | 57.3±13.7 | 64 | 16 (1–52) weeks | 53 |
BROSG, British Rheumatoid Outcome Study Group; CAMERA, Computer Assisted Management for Early Rheumatoid Arthritis; CRP, C reactive protein; CDAI, Crohn's Disease Activity Index; CTX-II, C-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type II collagen (marker for cartilage degradation); DAS, Disease Activity Score; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; N/A, not applicable; RF, rheumatoid factor; SJC, swollen joint count; TICORA, TIght COntrol of Rheumatoid Arthritis; TJC, tender joint count; VAS, visual analogue scale.