Chang et al. found that 23% of arthritis flares occurred while patients were not receiving medications and that 77% occurred in patients receiving NSAIDs, oral steroids and/or conventional or biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Previously unaffected joints were involved in 32 (54%) of 59 flares that occurred while patients were not receiving medications, and previously unaffected joints were involved in only 70 (36%) of 194 flares that occurred while patients were receiving medications (for involvement of new joints if the patient was not receiving medication at the time of flare, odds ratio 2.09 [95% confidence interval 1.16–3.80], P=0.015 by two-tailed Fisher’s exact test), suggesting that recurrent arthritis flares in the absence of a protective agent pose a particularly high risk of disease extension to new sites.
Conclusion
Arthritis flares preferentially affect previously inflamed joints, but carry an ongoing risk of disease extension. These findings confirm joint-specific memory and suggest that prevention of accumulation of new inflammatory features in the joint should be an important target for arthritis therapy.
For full study details, including source material, refer to the full article.
Excerpted and adapted from:
Chang MH, Bocharnikov AV, Case SM, et al. Patterns of arthritis flare revealing joint-specific memory together with sustained risk of new joint inflammation. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2022 Oct;74(10).
