Review
Aspects of early arthritis. Definition of disease states in early arthritis: remission versus minimal disease activity
Author affiliations
Department of Rheumatology, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands
Citation and License
Arthritis Research & Therapy 2006, 8:216 doi:10.1186/ar1983
Published: 3 July 2006Abstract
With regard to rheumatoid arthritis, remission as currently used in the literature can have two meanings: either a state with persistent absence of clinical and radiological signs of disease activity without being treated for a specific time period, or it may point to a disease state with minimal disease activity during antirheumatic treatment. A risk factor for the first is absence of autoantibodies, with the anti-CCP-antibodies as best predictors, whereas risk factors for achieving a drug-induced state of minimal disease activity are not well defined. These definitions of remission refer to different disease states; therefore, we propose that the term remission is reserved for patients that are not treated with antirheumatic drugs.
