Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism
Volume 40, Issue 1 , Pages 2-14.e1 , August 2010

A Comparison of Patient Characteristics and Outcomes in Selected European and U.S. Rheumatoid Arthritis Registries1

  • Jeffrey R. Curtis, MD, MS, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress reprint requests to Jeffrey R. Curtis, MD, MS, MPH, Co-Director, Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics of Musculoskeletal Diseases (CERTs), Director, Arthritis Clinical Intervention Program (ACIP), University of Alabama at Birmingham, 619 19th Street South, SRC 068, Birmingham, AL 35249
    • ,
  • Archana Jain, MD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL
    • ,
  • Johan Askling, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Medicine Solna, Clinical Epidemiology Unit and Rheumatology Unit, Karolinska Institutet at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
    • ,
  • S. Louis Bridges Jr., MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL
    • ,
  • Loreto Carmona, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Research Unit, Spanish Foundation of Rheumatology, Madrid, Spain
    • ,
  • William Dixon, MRCP, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit, Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, The University of Manchester, Manchester, U.K.
    • ,
  • Axel Finckh, MD, MS

      Affiliations

    • Division of Rheumatology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, For the Swiss Clinical Quality Management program (SCQM)
    • ,
  • Kimme Hyrich, MD, PhD, FRCPC

      Affiliations

    • Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit, Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, The University of Manchester, Manchester, U.K.
    • ,
  • Jeffrey D. Greenberg, MD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • NYU School of Medicine, NY
    • ,
  • Joel Kremer, MD

      Affiliations

    • Albany Medical College and The Center for Rheumatology, Albany, NY
    • ,
  • Joachim Listing, PhD

      Affiliations

    • German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin, a Leibniz Institute, Berlin, Germany
    • ,
  • Kaleb Michaud, PhD

      Affiliations

    • National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases, Wichita, KS
    • Charité University Medicine Berlin
    • ,
  • Ted Mikuls, MD, MSPH

      Affiliations

    • Omaha VA and Nebraska Arthritis Outcomes Research Center, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE
    • ,
  • Nancy Shadick, MD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
    • ,
  • Daniel H. Solomon, MD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
    • ,
  • Michael E. Weinblatt, MD

      Affiliations

    • Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
    • ,
  • Fred Wolfe, MD

      Affiliations

    • National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases, Wichita, KS
    • ,
  • Angela Zink, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin, a Leibniz Institute, Berlin, Germany
    • Charité University Medicine Berlin

References 

  1. Dreyer NA, Garner S. Registries for robust evidence. JAMA. 2009;302(7):790–791
  2. Dixon WG, Watson KD, Lunt M, Hyrich KL, Silman AJ, Symmons DP. Reduction in the incidence of myocardial infarction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who respond to anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha therapy: results from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register. Arthritis Rheum. 2007;56(9):2905–2912
  3. Listing J, Strangfeld A, Rau R, Kekow J, Gromnica-Ihle E, Klopsch T, et al. Clinical and functional remission: even though biologics are superior to conventional DMARDs overall success rates remain low—results from RABBIT, the German biologics register. Arthritis Res Ther. 2006;8(3):R66
  4. Jonsson B, Kobelt G, Smolen J. The burden of rheumatoid arthritis and access to treatment: uptake of new therapies. Eur J Health Econ. 2008;8(Suppl 2):S61–S86
  5. Askling J, Fored CM, Geborek P, Jacobsson LT, van Vollenhoven R, Feltelius N, et al. Swedish registers to examine drug safety and clinical issues in RA. Ann Rheum Dis. 2006;65(6):707–712
  6. Askling J, Baecklund E, Granath F, Geborek P, Fored M, Backlin C, et al. Anti-tumour necrosis factor therapy in rheumatoid arthritis and risk of malignant lymphomas: relative risks and time trends in the Swedish Biologics Register. Ann Rheum Dis. 2009;68(5):648–653
  7. Uitz E, Fransen J, Langenegger T, Stucki G. Clinical quality management in rheumatoid arthritis: putting theory into practice (Swiss Clinical Quality Management in Rheumatoid Arthritis). Rheumatology (Oxford). 2000;39(5):542–549
  8. Finckh A, Simard JF, Duryea J, Liang MH, Huang J, Daneel S, et al. The effectiveness of anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy in preventing progressive radiographic joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis: a population-based study. Arthritis Rheum. 2006;54(1):54–59
  9. Gomez-Reino JJ, Carmona L, Valverde VR, Mola EM, Montero MD, Group B. Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors may predispose to significant increase in tuberculosis risk: a multicenter active-surveillance report. Arthritis Rheum. 2003;48(8):2122–2127
  10. Rodríguez-Valverde V, Cáliz RC, Álvaro JMÁ-G, Fuente JL, Mendoza JM, Molina JT, et al. Update III Consensus of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology on biological therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. Mdl Reumatol Cl. 2006;2:52–59
  11. Gonzalez-Alvaro I, Carmona L, Balsa A, Sanmarti R, Belmonte MA, Tena X, et al. Patterns of disease modifying antirheumatic drug use in a Spanish cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol. 2003;30(4):697–704
  12. Kremer JM. The CORRONA database. Autoimmun Rev. 2006;5(1):46–54
  13. Curtis JR, Patkar N, Xie A, Martin C, Allison JJ, Saag M, et al. Risk of serious bacterial infections among rheumatoid arthritis patients exposed to tumor necrosis factor alpha antagonists. Arthritis Rheum. 2007;56(4):1125–1133
  14. Singh JA, Holmgren AR, Noorbaloochi S. Accuracy of Veterans Administration databases for a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 2004;51(6):952–957
  15. Hyrich KL, Watson KD, Silman AJ, Symmons DP. Predictors of response to anti-TNF-alpha therapy among patients with rheumatoid arthritis: results from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2006;45(12):1558–1565
  16. Zink A, Listing J, Kary S, Ramlau P, Stoyanova-Scholz M, Babinsky K, et al. Treatment continuation in patients receiving biological agents or conventional DMARD therapy. Ann Rheum Dis. 2005;64(9):1274–1279
  17. Zink A, Strangfeld A, Schneider M, Herzer P, Hierse F, Stoyanova-Scholz M, et al. Effectiveness of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis in an observational cohort study: comparison of patients according to their eligibility for major randomized clinical trials. Arthritis Rheum. 2006;54(11):3399–3407
  18. Greenberg JD, Kishimoto M, Strand V, Cohen SB, Olenginski TP, Harrington T, et al. Tumor necrosis factor antagonist responsiveness in a United States rheumatoid arthritis cohort. Am J Med. 2008;121(6):532–538
  19. Dixon WG, Symmons DP, Lunt M, Watson KD, Hyrich KL, Silman AJ. Serious infection following anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: lessons from interpreting data from observational studies. Arthritis Rheum. 2007;56(9):2896–2904
  20. Askling J, Fored CM, Brandt L, Baecklund E, Bertilsson L, Feltelius N, et al. Time-dependent increase in risk of hospitalisation with infection among Swedish RA patients treated with TNF antagonists. Ann Rheum Dis. 2007;66(10):1339–1344
  21. Listing J, Strangfeld A, Kary S, Rau R, von Hinueber U, Stoyanova-Scholz M, et al. Infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biologic agents. Arthritis Rheum. 2005;52(11):3403–3412
  22. Patkar NM, Curtis JR, Teng GG, Allison JJ, Saag M, Martin C, et al. Administrative codes combined with medical records based criteria accurately identified bacterial infections among rheumatoid arthritis patients. J Clin Epidemiol. 2009;62(3):321–327, 327, e1-7.
  23. Schneeweiss S, Robicsek A, Scranton R, Zuckerman D, Solomon DH. Veteran's affairs hospital discharge databases coded serious bacterial infections accurately. J Clin Epidemiol. 2007;60(4):397–409
  24. Curtis JR, Patkar NM, Jain A, Greenberg J, Solomon DH. Validity of physician-reported hospitalized infections in a US arthritis registry. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2009;48(10):1269–1272
  25. Curtis JR, Xi J, Patkar N, Xie A, Saag KG, Martin C. Drug-specific and time-dependent risks of bacterial infection among patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were exposed to tumor necrosis factor alpha antagonists. Arthritis Rheum. 2007;56(12):4226–4227
  26. Kremer JM, Gibofsky A, Greenberg JD. The role of drug and disease registries in rheumatic disease epidemiology. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2008;20(2):123–130
  27. Wolfe F, Caplan L, Michaud K. Treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and the risk of hospitalization for pneumonia: associations with prednisone, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, and anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy. Arthritis Rheum. 2006;54(2):628–634
  28. Listing J, Strangfeld A, Kekow J, Schneider M, Kapelle A, Wassenberg S, et al. Does tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibition promote or prevent heart failure in patients with rheumatoid arthritis?. Arthritis Rheum. 2008;58(3):667–677
  29. Strangfeld A, Hierse F, Kekow J, von Hinueber U, Tony HP, Dockhorn R, et al. Comparative effectiveness of tumour necrosis factor alpha inhibitors in combination with either methotrexate or leflunomide. Ann Rheum Dis. 2009;68(12):1856–1862
  30. Hooker R, Prescott K, Cipher D, Wauson M, Mikuls T, Kerr G, et al. Fit for study: eligibility of veterans with rheumatoid arthritis in major clinical trials of biological therapies. Arthritis Rheum. 2008;58(Suppl):s764
  31. Askling J, Fored CM, Brandt L, Baecklund E, Bertilsson L, Feltelius N, et al. Risks of solid cancers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and after treatment with tumour necrosis factor antagonists. Ann Rheum Dis. 2005;64(10):1421–1426
  32. Wolfe F, Michaud K. The risk of myocardial infarction and pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic myocardial infarction predictors in rheumatoid arthritis: a cohort and nested case-control analysis. Arthritis Rheum. 2008;58(9):2612–2621
  33. Wolfe F, Michaud K. Biologic treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and the risk of malignancy: analyses from a large US observational study. Arthritis Rheum. 2007;56(9):2886–2895
  34. Du Pan SM, Dehler S, Ciurea A, Ziswiler HR, Gabay C, Finckh A. Comparison of drug retention rates and causes of drug discontinuation between anti-tumor necrosis factor agents in rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 2009;61(5):560–568
  35. Anderson J, Sayles H, Curtis JR, Wolfe F, Michaud K. Converting MHAQ, MDHAQ, and HAQII Scores Into HAQ Scores Using Models Developd with 33,575 RA Patients. Arthritis Care and Research (in press).

 The following authors have made disclosures: J.C.: research grants: Amgen, Novartis, UCB, Centocor; consulting: Roche, UCB, CORRONA, Amgen; J.A.: speakers honoraria <$2000 from Wyeth, BMS, Abbott, Centocor, Schering-Plough; A.F.: research grants: Roche, Wyeth; Consulting: Roche, Abbott, Essex, Wyeth; J.L., J.G.: Dr. Greenberg serves as Chief Scientific Officer for CORRONA and has served on Advisory Boards for BMS, Centocor, Genentech, Roche and UCB; A.Z.: research grants: Abbott, Amgen, BMS, Schering-Plough, Roche, UCB, Wyeth; T.M.: research grants: Abbott, Amgen, UCB, (VARA); consulting: UCB; N.S. research grants: Biogen Idec, Crescendo Biosciences, Amgen; M.W. research grants: Biogen Idec, Crescendo Bioscience; consulting: Biogen Idec, Crescendo Bioscience.

 All other authors have no conflicts or relevant disclosures.

 This work was supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Some of the investigators receive support from the National Institutes of Health (AR053351: J.R.C.; AR047782 and AG027066: D.H.S.).

PII: S0049-0172(10)00049-1

doi: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2010.03.003

Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism
Volume 40, Issue 1 , Pages 2-14.e1 , August 2010

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