Systematic Monitoring of Disease Activity Using an Outcome Measure Improves Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Study quality assessment.

Quality Assessment	TICORA ¹¹	Fransen¹²	CAMERA¹³
Method of randomization adequate	Y	Y	Y
Patient blinded	N	N	N
Care providers blinded	N	N	N
Outcome assessors blinded	N	Y	N
Treatment allocation concealed	Y	Y	Y
Groups similar at baseline regarding the most important prognostic factors	Y	Y	Y
Cointerventions avoided or similar	N	Y	N
Timing of outcome assessment in both groups comparable	Y	Y	Y
Compliance acceptable in all groups	Y	Y	N
Dropout rate described and acceptable	Y	Y	N^*
Intention to treat analysis used	Y	Y	Y

Table 2.

Study characteristics.

Study	Trial Duration	Intervention	Sample Size	Frequency of Followup	Treatment	Outcome
TICORA¹¹, UK	18 mo	Intensive care (DAS < 2.4)	55	Monthly	Specific protocol	Mean fall in DAS
TICORA¹¹, UK	18 mo	Routine care (physician’s discretion)	55	Every 3 mo	No protocol
Fransen¹², Netherlands	24 wks	Intensive care (DAS 28 < 3.2)	205	Wks 0, 4, 12, 24	No protocol	DAS28
Fransen¹², Netherlands	24 wks	Usual care (physician’s discretion)	179
CAMERA¹³, Netherlands	2 yrs	Intensive care (computer decision program)	151	Monthly	Specific protocol	Remission rate
CAMERA¹³, Netherlands	2 yrs	Conventional care (physician’s discretion)	148	Every 3 mo