Can treatment expectations or treatment itself in patients with arthralgia suspicious for progression to rheumatoid arthritis improve illness perceptions?
Authors' conclusion
Both the prospect of and DMARD treatment itself improved IPs in CSA, mainly in cognitive domains.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA) at risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
- Participants
- 375 patients
- Comparison
- MTX vs placebo (treatment effect); DMARD offered via TREAT EARLIER trial vs wait-and-see approach (offer effect)
- TREAT EARLIER trialn = 236
- Wait-and-seen = 139reference
- Primary endpoint
- Illness perceptions (Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire: cognitive, emotional and comprehensibility domains)
- Follow-up
- 2 years
Methodological detailscomparison with wait-and-see cohort
- Comparison with wait-and-see cohort
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Illness perceptions over time, MTX vs placebo
- Sustained improvements in illness perceptions (IPs) over time with treatment vs placebo in four cognitive domains
- Methotrexate vs Placebo: P = 0.040
- Methotrexate vs Placebo: P = 0.001
- Methotrexate vs Placebo: P = 0.041
- Methotrexate vs Placebo: P = 0.045
Further findings
| Outcome | P value |
|---|---|
| Illness perceptions at baseline, treatment offered vs wait-and-seeTREAT EARLIER trial vs Wait-and-see · more confidence in treatment | P < 0.001 |
| Illness perceptions at baseline, treatment offered vs wait-and-seeTREAT EARLIER trial vs Wait-and-see · tended to have a deeper understanding of their disease | P = 0.054 |
Original publication
Can treatment expectations or treatment itself in patients with arthralgia suspicious for progression to rheumatoid arthritis improve illness perceptions? Rheumatology (Oxford). Published 13 February 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →