OpenLB
Open Library of Bioscience

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the proportion of patients with disease">disease">rheumatoid arthritis (disease">disease">RA) visiting office-based rheumatologists for persistently active disease">disease">RA despite past or current methotrexate (MTX) treatment, and to describe the management of these patients in France in 2003.
METHODS: All French rheumatologists were invited to participate in a cross-sectional postal survey. During a predetermined week, they were to include the first 2 patients seen for disease">disease">RA with a history of past or current MTX treatment. Adequacy of current treatment was assessed based on the 28-joint disease">disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28) and on current MTX and corticosteroid regimens.
RESULTS: Of the 1800 French rheumatologists, 492 returned 838 assessable patient questionnaires. Mean patient age was 58 years and mean time since disease">disease">RA diagnosis was 10 years; 77% of patients were currently taking MTX, and 51% a corticosteroid. High dosages were noted for MTX (> 15 mg/week) in 20% of patients and for corticosteroid therapy (> 10 mg/day) in 5%. Nevertheless, 41% of patients had active disease">disease">RA (DAS28 score 3.2 to 5.1) and 7% had very active disease">disease">RA (DAS28 score > 5.1). The treatment was left unchanged in 78% of patients, and biological therapy was contemplated in only 16% of patients.
CONCLUSION: Although half of MTX-treated patients with disease">disease">RA visiting office-based rheumatologists had active or very active disease">disease, a change in treatment was rarely considered.