Up to 20% of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) deemed suitable for tapering are likely to achieve sustained drug-free remission for a year or longer, a systematic review has found.

Dutch researchers examined 51 studies reporting DMARD-free remission in people with RA, concentrating on seven they judged as high quality (five clinical trials and two observational cohort studies).

Therapies included biologics such as abatacept, tocilizumab, TNF-alpha inhibitors and conventional DMARDs such as methotrexate, sulfasalazine and NSAIDs.

There was considerable heterogeneity in the included studies, which precluded meta-analysis, the authors from the rheumatology departments of Leiden University and the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam reported.