Remission in rheumatoid arthritis: Can the csDMARD dose be halved?
Results of a randomised controlled trial are open to interpretation, expert says
Rheumatologists may be divided about the interpretation of a trial of dose-halving in patients in remission from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on non-biologic therapy, which shows that the half dose leads to more flares.
In the ARCTIC REWIND study, 160 patients who had been in remission on stable conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) for at least a year with no biologic therapy were randomly allocated either to continue on the same dose, or to have their dose halved.