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Objective: To describe patterns of glucocorticoid use in a large real‐world cohort with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and assess the impact on disease activity and treatment. Methods: Data are from adults with new RA (≤1 year) recruited to the Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort (CATCH) and are stratified on the basis of whether a person was prescribed oral glucocorticoids within 3 months of study entry. Disease activity was compared over 24 months. Mixed‐effects logistic regression was used for adjusted odds ratios (aORs) of escalation to biologics separately for 12 and 24 months, with random effects terms to account for prescribing patterns clustering by study site. Results: Among 1891 persons, 30% received oral steroids. Users were older, were less often employed, and had shorter disease duration and higher disease activity. Disease activity improved over time, with early glucocorticoid users starting at higher levels of disease activity. Participants with early oral glucocorticoids were more likely to be on a biologic at 12 months (aOR = 2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5‐3.7) and 24 months (aOR = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.3‐3.0). Despite Canadian clinical practice guidelines to limit corticosteroid use to short‐term or 'bridge' therapy, 30% of patients who used oral glucocorticoids still used them 2 years later. Conclusion: Early steroids were prescribed sparingly in CATCH and were often indicative of more active baseline disease as well as the need for progression to biologics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background A care gap exists between recommendations and practice regarding the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis in fracture patients. The current study was designed to determine rates and predictors of in-hospital diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis in patients admitted with fragility hip fractures, and to assess differences in these rates since the outset of the multipronged "Fracture? Think Osteoporosis" (FTOP) Program, which includes education of geriatrics and rehabilitation teams. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study conducted with data from two Hamilton, Ontario, university-based tertiary-care hospitals, and represents a follow-up to a previous study conducted 8 years earlier. Data pertaining to all 354 patients, age >/= 50, admitted between March 2003 and April 2004, inclusive, with a diagnosis of fragility hip fracture were evaluated. Twelve patients were excluded leaving 342 patients for analysis, with 75% female, mean age 81. Outcomes included: Primary – In-hospital diagnosis of osteoporosis and/or initiation of anti-resorptive treatment ("new osteoporosis diagnosis/treatment"). Secondary – In-hospital mortality, BMD referrals, pre-admission osteoporosis diagnosis and treatment. Results At admission, 27.8% of patients had a pre-existing diagnosis of osteoporosis and/or were taking anti-resorptive treatment. Among patients with no previous osteoporosis diagnosis/treatment: 35.7% received a new diagnosis of osteoporosis, 21% were initiated on anti-resorptive treatment, and 14.3% received a BMD referral. The greatest predictor of new osteoporosis diagnosis/treatment was transfer to a rehabilitation or geriatrics unit: 79.5% of rehabilitation/geriatrics versus 18.5% of patients receiving only orthopedics care met this outcome (p < 0.001). Conclusion New diagnosis of osteoporosis among patients admitted with hip fracture has improved from 1.8% in the mid 1990's to 35.7%. Initiation of bisphosphonate therapy has likewise improved from 0% to 21%. Although multiple factors have likely contributed, the differential response between rehabilitation/geriatrics versus orthopedics patients suggests that education of the geriatric and rehabilitation teams, including one-on-one and group-based sessions, implemented as part of the FTOP Program, has played a role in this improvement. A significant care gap still exists for patients discharged directly from orthopedic units. The application of targeted inpatient and post-discharge initiatives, such as those that comprise the entire FTOP Program, may be of particular value in this setting.

Objective: Higher self‐reported disability (high Health Assessment Questionnaire [HAQ] score) has been associated with hospitalizations and mortality in established rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but associations in early RA are unknown. Methods: Patients with early RA (symptom duration <1 year) enrolled in the Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort who initiated disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs and had completed HAQ data at baseline and 1 year were included in the study. Discrete‐time proportional hazards models were used to estimate crude and multi‐adjusted associations of baseline HAQ and HAQ at 1 year with all‐cause mortality in each year of follow‐up. Results: A total of 1,724 patients with early RA were included. The mean age was 55 years, and 72% were women. Over 10 years, 62 deaths (3.6%) were recorded. Deceased patients had higher HAQ scores at baseline (mean ± SD 1.2 ± 0.7) and at 1 year (0.9 ± 0.7) than living patients (1.0 ± 0.7 and 0.5 ± 0.6, respectively; P < 0.001). Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28) was higher in deceased versus living patients at baseline (mean ± SD 5.4 ± 1.3 versus 4.9 ± 1.4) and at 1 year (mean ± SD 3.6 ± 1.4 versus 2.8 ± 1.4) (P < 0.001). Older age, male sex, lower education level, smoking, more comorbidities, higher baseline DAS28, and glucocorticoid use were associated with mortality. Contrary to HAQ score at baseline, the association between all‐cause mortality and HAQ score at 1 year remained significant even after adjustment for confounders. For baseline HAQ score, the unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) was 1.46 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.02–2.09), and the adjusted HR was 1.25 (95% CI 0.81–1.94). For HAQ score at 1 year, the unadjusted HR was 2.58 (95% CI 1.78–3.72), and the adjusted HR was 1.75 (95% CI 1.10–2.77). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that higher HAQ score and DAS28 at 1 year are significantly associated with all‐cause mortality in a large early RA cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess real-world practice patterns surrounding treatment initiation and adjustments over time for methotrexate (MTX) and non-MTX-based treatment strategies in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods: We studied a multicenter, incident early RA cohort (enrolled 2007-2017 within 1 year of symptoms) who fulfilled American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria. Adult patients with RA were eligible if treatment with MTX (± other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs [DMARDs]) was initiated within 90 days of cohort entry. We compared time until treatment change for 4 initial MTX-based therapies and time to second treatment change after the first change. The definition of treatment change included changing of route for MTX monotherapy, adding or stopping a DMARD or biologic, and changing dose/frequency of a DMARD or biologic.Results: There was great variability of treatment at initiation and during therapy adjustment. In 1,484 patients with early RA, the majority initiated MTX monotherapy (oral or subcutaneous [SC]). Patients receiving SC MTX monotherapy changed treatment less (45% versus 79%) and remained on treatment longer (hazard ratio [HR] 0.52 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.4-0.67]) than those receiving oral MTX monotherapy. Most therapy adjustments involved adding a DMARD or changing to a non-MTX DMARD. Those adults taking biologics and who were receiving triple therapy had a longer time without treatment change (HR 0.26 [95% CI 0.16-0.42] and HR 0.57 [95% CI 0.38-0.85], respectively).Conclusion: We found large variability in the way MTX-based therapies are prescribed in clinical practice. Our findings support the use of SC MTX monotherapy or MTX combination as initial therapy. For subsequent treatment after initial MTX-based therapy, those patients initiating either biologics or triple therapy had a longer time to treatment change than oral MTX monotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]