DAS steered therapy in clinical practice; cross-sectional results from the METEOR database

BACKGROUND: Little is known on how well targeted treatment, for instance targeting towards low DAS, is implemented in clinical practice. Our aim was to evaluate treatment adjustments in response to DAS in RA patients in clinical practice. METHODS: We used data from one referral centre, multiple rheumatologists, from the METEOR database. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) were used to assess whether in case of non-low disease activity (DAS > 2.4) treatment intensifications in DMARD therapy occurred ((change or increase in dose or number of DMARDs, including synthetic (s)DMARDs, biologic (b)DMARDs and corticosteroids compared to the visit before)). Determinants of not intensifying the treatment when DAS > 2.4 were investigated using GEE. RESULTS: Five thousand one hundred fifty-seven registered visits of 1202 patients were available for the analyses. A DAS > 2.4 was weakly (OR: 1.19; 95 % CI 1.07–1.33) associated with a treatment intensification. In 69 % (n = 3577) of the visits patients were in low disease activity. In 66 % (n = 1028) of the visits with DAS > 2.4 treatment was not intensified. These patients had a higher tender joint count and received more often methotrexate plus a bDMARD, or csDMARD monotherapy, as compared to patients that received treatment intensification. CONCLUSION: In the majority of visits in the METEOR database patients were already in a state of low disease activity, reflecting appropriate treatment intensity. When DAS was greater than 2.4, treatment was often not intensified due to high tender joint count or specific treatment combinations. This data suggest that while aiming for low DAS, physicians per patient weigh whether all DAS elements indicate disease activity or will respond to DMARD adjustment or not, and make treatment decisions accordingly. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12891-016-0878-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.