Effect of a treat-to-target intervention of cardiovascular risk factors on subclinical and clinical atherosclerosis in rheumatoid arthritis: a randomised clinical trial.

Background: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). No long-term intervention trials on CVD risk factors have been published, and a debate on the efficacy of controlling traditional risk factors in RA is ongoing. We aimed to evaluate a treat-to-target approach versus usual care regarding traditional CVD risk factors in patients with RA.
Methods: In this open-label, randomised controlled trial, patients with RA aged <70 years without prior CVD or diabetes mellitus were randomised 1:1 to either a treat-to-target approach or usual care of traditional CVD risk factors. The primary outcome was defined as change in carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) over 5 years, and the secondary outcome was a composite of first occurrence of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events.
Results: A total of 320 patients (mean age 52.4 years; 69.7% female) with RA underwent randomisation and 219 patients (68.4%) completed 5 years of follow-up. The mean cIMT progression was significantly reduced in the treat-to-target group compared with usual care (0.023 [95% CI 0.011 to 0.036] mm vs 0.045 [95% CI 0.030 to 0.059] mm; p=0.028). Cardiovascular events occurred in 2 (1.3%) of the patients in the treat-to-target group vs 7 (4.7%) in those receiving usual care (p=0.048 by log-rank test).
Conclusion: This study provides evidence on the benefit of a treat-to-target approach of traditional CVD risk factors for primary prevention in patients with well-treated RA.
Trial Registration Number: NTR3873.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: MCC served as a consultant for Merck and received lecture honoraria from Merck.
(© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)