PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - RUBEN TAVARES
AU  - JANET E. POPE
AU  - JEAN-LUC TREMBLAY
AU  - CARTER THORNE
AU  - VIVIAN P. BYKERK
AU  - JURIS LAZOVSKIS
AU  - KENNETH L.N. BLOCKA
AU  - MARY J. BELL
AU  - DIANE LACAILLE
AU  - CAROL A. HITCHON
AU  - AVRIL A. FITZGERALD
AU  - WESLEY K. FIDLER
AU  - ARTHUR A.M. BOOKMAN
AU  - JAMES M. HENDERSON
AU  - DIANNE P. MOSHER
AU  - DALTON E. SHOLTER
AU  - MAJED KHRAISHI
AU  - BOULOS HARAOUI
AU  - HONG CHEN
AU  - XIUYING LI
AU  - ANDREAS LAUPACIS
AU  - GILLES BOIRE
AU  - GEORGE TOMLINSON
AU  - CLAIRE BOMBARDIER
TI  - Early Management of Newly Diagnosed Rheumatoid Arthritis by Canadian Rheumatologists: A National, Multicenter, Retrospective Cohort
AID  - 10.3899/jrheum.110249
DP  - 2011 Nov 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 2342--2345
VI  - 38
IP  - 11
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/38/11/2342.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/38/11/2342.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2011 Nov 01; 38
AB  - Objective. To describe early rheumatologic management for newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Canada. Methods. A retrospective cohort of 339 randomly selected patients with RA diagnosed from 2001–2003 from 18 rheumatology practices was audited between 2005–2007. Results. The most frequent initial disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) included hydroxychloroquine (55.5%) and methotrexate (40.1%). Initial therapy with multiple DMARD (15.6%) or single DMARD and corticosteroid combinations (30.7%) was infrequent. Formal assessment measures were noted infrequently, including the Health Assessment Questionnaire (34.6%) and Disease Activity Score for 28 joints (8.9%). Conclusion. Initial pharmacotherapy is consistent with guidelines from the period. The infrequent reporting of multiple DMARD combinations and formal assessment measures has implications for current clinical management and warrants contemporary reassessment.