Orthopaedic & Rheumatologic Institute Outcomes

The 2015 American College of Rheumatology guidelines recommend that rheumatoid arthritis patients be treated with disease modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy and/or biologic agents (anti-tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, IL-6 receptor inhibitors, anti-CD20 antibody, and T-cell costimulatory inhibitor). More than 11,590 unique rheumatoid arthritis patients were seen in the Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases between 2018-2022. More than 93.5% of rheumatoid arthritis patients who were seen in the Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases at least 2 times during the years 2018-2022 were treated with DMARD therapy and/or biologic agents in any given year. For the small percentage of patients not on DMARDs or biologics, reasons included disease remission, refusal of treatment, and contraindications to DMARD or biologic therapy. In any given year, between 93.2% and 93.9% of patients were on a DMARD and/or biologic agent. While we are aware of the 2021 ACR guidelines for the treatment of RA , we utilized the 2015 guidelines to enable comparative review for these outcomes. 

¹Singh JA, Saag KG, Bridges SL Jr, Akl EA, Bannuru RR, Sullivan MC, Vaysbrot E, McNaughton C, Osani M, Shmerling RH, Curtis JR, FurstDE, Parks D, Kavanaugh A, O'Dell J, King C, Leong A, Matteson EL, Schousboe JT, Drevlow B, Ginsberg S, Grober J, St Clair EW, Tindall E,Miller AS, McAlindon T. 2015 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis. 2016 Jan;68(1):1-25.

²Fraenkel, L., Bathon, J. M., England, B. R., St Clair, E. W., Arayssi, T., Carandang, K., Deane, K. D., Genovese, M., Huston, K. K., Kerr, G., Kremer, J., Nakamura, M. C., Russell, L. A., Singh, J. A., Smith, B. J., Sparks, J. A., Venkatachalam, S., Weinblatt, M. E., Al-Gibbawi, M., Baker, J. F., …, Chamseddine, F., Akl, E. A. (2021). 2021 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis care & research.2021Jul;73(7),:924–939