Abstract
Objectives: To examine long-term outcomes and predictors of structural and functional remission in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after 10-year disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy under tight control. Methods: We used real-world cohort data from RA patients who completed 10-year DMARD therapy toward remission or low disease activity based on every-3-month measurements between April 2001 and July 2024. Baseline characteristics, disease control during follow-up, and outcomes after 10 years were examined. Results: Among 204 patients, 76% received biological and/or non-biological targeted DMARDs. Clinical remission, structural remission defined as an increase in modified total Sharp score (mTSS) ≤ 5 per 10 years, and functional remission defined as health assessment questionnaire-disability index (HAQ-DI) ≤ 0.5 were achieved by 68.1%, 73.0%, and 81.4% of patients, respectively. The mean increase (∆) in mTSS was 5.4 for 10 years (∆erosion score, 1.2; ∆joint space narrowing [JSN] score, 4.2), and 28.9% of patients had no structural progression (51% for erosion score and 34.8% for JSN score). Mean HAQ-DI was 0.26. During a 10-year follow-up, 8.8% of patients experienced high or moderate disease activity lasting for ≥12 months and they had a low structural remission rate (11.1%) and functional remission rate (16.6%). According to multivariable logistic regression analysis, baseline mTSS and JNS score (but not erosion score) were strong predictors for structural and functional remission after 10 years. Conclusions: Structural damage progression and functional loss are limited during 10-year tightly controlled DMARD therapy. Compared with bone erosion, JSN appears to be of much higher relevance to structural and functional outcomes.