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. 2020 Sep 22;17(9):e1003296. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003296

Fig 2. Disease activity and long-term outcomes in type 2 RA.

Fig 2

Disease activity over time (A) and the long-term outcomes SDFR (B), mortality (C), and functional disability (D) in type 2 (autoantibody-negative) RA. For DAS28-ESR and HAQ, mean values of imputed data from visits that were attended are shown; when <20% of patients attended the visit, lines were truncated. DAS28-ESR ranges from 2 to 9.4, with higher scores indicating more disease activity. Remission is defined as a score < 2.6, and a change of >1.2 is considered a clinically relevant change [44]. HAQ ranges from 0 to 3, with higher scores indicating more disability. The minimally important difference is 0.22 [38]. For SDFR, at 5 years, 73%, 74%, 72%, 62%, and 14% of patients from inclusion period 1993–1996 to 2011–2016, respectively, were still at risk. At 10 years, the proportion at risk was 41%, 45%, 47%, 9%, and 0%, and at 15 years, 22%, 31%, 8%, 0%, and 0%. For mortality, at 5 years, 96%, 96%, 97%, 94%, and 27% of patients from inclusion period 1993–1996 to 2011–2016, respectively, were still at risk. At 10 years, the proportion at risk was 84%, 85%, 90%, 34%, and 0%, and at 15 years, 71%, 64%, 26%, 0%, and 0%. DAS28-ESR, Disease Activity Score–28 with erythrocyte sedimentation rate; Early, early treatment; HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire; NSAID, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; MTX, methotrexate; noMTX, no methotrexate; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; SDFR, sustained DMARD-free remission; T2T, treat-to-target.