Table 4 Core American College of Rheumatology component responses at 1 and 2 years.
| ACR component | Abatacept 2 mg/kg switched to 10 mg/kg+etanercept* | Placebo switched to abatacept 10 mg/kg+etanercept† | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 2 years | Change | 1 year | 2 years | Change | |
| Tender joints‡ | 10.6 (12.9) | 6.4 (8.8) | −4.2 (9.4)§ | 14.1 (10.7) | 11.1 (13.4) | −3.0 (8.2) |
| Swollen joints¶ | 10.4 (9.5) | 6.0 (5.7) | −4.4 (8.3)** | 12.9 (9.4) | 8.7 (9.3) | −4.2 (7.3)†† |
| Patient assessment of pain | 34.5 (23.5) | 29.2 (19.8) | −5.3 (26.3) | 30.3 (22.6) | 33.1 (19.8) | 2.8 (15.7) |
| Patient assessment of function (mHAQ) | 0.5 (0.4) | 0.4 (0.4) | −0.1 (0.3) | 0.5 (0.4) | 0.5 (0.4) | 0 (0.2) |
| Patient assessment of disease activity | 32.1 (22.3) | 28.0 (19.4) | −4.1 (23.1) | 29.4 (17.7) | 31.0 (19.8) | 1.6 (19.4) |
| Physician assessment of disease activity | 27.4 (19.0) | 19.8 (17.0) | −7.6 (20.6)‡‡ | 25.4 (17.0) | 24.8 (19.2) | −0.6 (23.1) |
| CRP level§§ | 1.0 (1.1) | 0.8 (0.7) | −0.2 (0.9) | 1.0 (0.8) | 0.6 (0.5) | −0.4 (0.8) |
ACR, American College of Rheumatology; CRP, C reactive protein; mHAQ, modified Health Assessment Questionnaire.
All patients received etanercept 25 mg twice weekly; values for year 3 were recorded but excluded owing to the small sample number.
All values are shown as mean (SD).
*n = 46–51; †n = 19–20; ‡68 joints were assessed for tenderness; §p = 0.002; ¶66 joints were assessed for swelling; **p<0.001; ††p = 0.018; ‡‡p = 0.0135; §§reference range, 0–0.4 mg/dl.