• Chantal A M Bouman, Aatke van der Maas, Noortje van Herwaarden, Eric H Sasso, van den HoogenFrank H JFHJDepartment of Rheumatology, Sint Maartenskliniek, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.Department of Rheumatology, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands., and Alfons A den Broeder.
• Department of Rheumatology, Sint Maartenskliniek, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
• Rheumatology (Oxford). 2017 Jun 1; 56 (6): 973-980.

ObjectiveThe aim was to evaluate the predictive value of the baseline multi-biomarker disease activity (MBDA) score in long-standing RA patients with low disease activity tapering TNF inhibitors (TNFi) for successful tapering or discontinuation, occurrence of flare and major flare, and radiographic progression.MethodsDose REduction Strategies of Subcutaneous TNF inhibitors (Dutch Trial Register, NTR 3216) is an 18-month non-inferiority randomized controlled trial comparing tapering of TNFi until discontinuation or flaring with usual care (UC) in long-standing RA patients with stable low disease activity. Flare was defined as DAS28-CRP increase >1.2 or >0.6 if current DAS ⩾3.2; major flare was a flare lasting >3 months, despite treatment intervention. MBDA scores were measured at baseline. Radiographs were scored at baseline and 18 months using the Sharp-van der Heijde score. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve was used to analyse the capability of baseline MBDA score to predict the above-mentioned outcomes.ResultsSerum samples and outcomes were available for 171 of 180 patients from Dose REduction Strategies of Subcutaneous TNF inhibitors (115 tapering; 56 UC). AUROC analyses showed that baseline MBDA score was not predictive for the above-mentioned clinical outcomes in the taper group, but did predict major flare in the UC group (AUROC = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.88). Radiographic progression was minimal and was not predicted by MDBA score.ConclusionIn this disease activity-guided strategy study of TNFi tapering in RA patients with low disease activity, baseline MBDA score was not predictive for successful tapering, discontinuation, flare, major flare or radiographic progression in patients who tapered TNFi.© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

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