Experts Expand Definition of Rheumatoid Arthritis Remission
Decreasing disease activity in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has long been the goal of medical treatment. But measuring when a person has met their goal — when symptoms are alleviated or at a low enough level that they don't impair function or overall health — is not always clear.For more than a decade, rheumatologists have debated the criteria for how to know when a person is in remission from RA.Now the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) have released final guidance for rheumatologists on their criteria for remission.The new criteria, published in Arthritis & Rheumatology on October 23, 2022, revise preliminary guidance the groups issued a decade ago.The revised guidance is “based on trial data not used [previously] for deriving or…