TY - JOUR T1 - Early Management of Newly Diagnosed Rheumatoid Arthritis by Canadian Rheumatologists: A National, Multicenter, Retrospective Cohort JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol DO - 10.3899/jrheum.110249 SP - jrheum.110249 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 Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2011/08/30/jrheum.110249.abstract N2 - 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. ER -