Why carry out this study?

Little is known about the impact of upadacitinib in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) during the initial weeks of therapy in real-world clinical practice.

Our objective was to evaluate patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in patients with RA during the first 12 weeks of treatment with upadacitinib using a mobile health application.

What was learned from the study?

In this prospective, observational cohort of patients with RA, treatment with upadacitinib was associated with early, significant improvement in disease activity and other PROs, including the Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 (RAPID3), pain, morning stiffness, and fatigue, regardless of prior tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) experience.

Improvement in RAPID3 patient-reported disease activity was observed as early as week 1 of upadacitinib treatment, with nearly 50% of patients reporting improvement by 4 weeks and 60% by 12 weeks.

This study successfully utilized a novel mobile application to gather patient-derived data for assessing early treatment response in clinical practice; future studies should consider providing additional patient support to maintain digital adherence over time.