The course of radiologic damage during the first six years of rheumatoid arthritis
- Hulsmans, H. M.
- Jacobs, J. W.
- van der Heijde, D. M.
- van Albada-Kuipers, G. A.
- Schenk, Y.
- Bijlsma, J. W.
DOIAbstract
To describe the radiologic course in a large cohort of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to analyze individual components of damage. Five hundred two patients with recent-onset RA (disease duration <1 year) underwent annual radiologic assessment for a maximum of 6 years in this longitudinal prospective study. The study was designed to investigate the efficacy of 3 different therapeutic strategies. For the assessment of radiologic damage, radiographs of the hands and feet were scored according to the modified Sharp/van der Heijde method (SHS; range 0-448). A mean of 2.9 (range 1-7) radiographs was read per patient. Stable rates of progression of the SHS, erosion score, and narrowing score were found over the course of RA: the...
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