The effect on treatment response of fibromyalgic symptoms in early rheumatoid arthritis patients: results from the ESPOIR cohort.

International audienceOBJECTIVE:To evaluate whether patients with RA who belong to the spectrum of fibromyalgic RA (FRA) have an impaired response to treatment measured by traditional activity scores.METHODS:Patients from the ESPOIR cohort were analysed. This prospective cohort included 813 patients with early arthritis not initially receiving DMARDs. Among the 697 patients who met RA classification criteria, we studied two groups, one with and the other without FRA. The following endpoints were compared at 6, 12 and 18 months using a mixed linear regression model: 28-joint DAS (DAS28), Simple Disease Activity Index (SDAI), Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and HAQ. In addition, attainment of low disease activity (LDA; DAS28 <3.2) and remission (DAS28 <2.6, SDAI <3.3, CDAI