Background/Purpose: Little is known regarding the prevalence of erosive disease in a contemporary cohort of patients with RA and whether erosive disease prevalence differs by disease duration and seropositivity to anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA). The aim of this study was to characterize the proportion of patients with RA with erosive disease by disease duration category and stratified by positive and negative serological status (anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide [anti-CCP], a surrogate for ACPA). Methods: We identified patients with RA aged ≥18 years who were enrolled in the Corrona registry (October 2001–June 2016), with available disease duration, radiographic/MRI/ultrasound studies and serological status based on anti-CCP. Patients were grouped based on RA disease duration (0–2, 3–5, 6–10 and >10 years from diagnosis). Unadjusted prevalence erosion rates were calculated based on the proportion of patients with reports of erosions present on joint radiographs/MRIs/ultrasounds. Seropositivity was based on laboratory results (anti-CCP ≥20 U/mL) at enrollment in the Corrona registry. Chi-squared tests were used to assess differences in prevalence rates.

Results: There were 9759 patients who met inclusion criteria. Most were women (76%), middle-aged (mean [SD] 57 years [14]), with moderate disease activity (mean [SD] CDAI 14.7 [13.4]). Prior use of at least one biologic or targeted synthetic DMARD had occurred in 41% of patients. Overall, the prevalence of erosive disease was 28.6%, with higher prevalence among anti-CCP+ (35.4%) vs anti-CCP– (20.1%) patients (p<0.001, chi-squared test). The prevalence of erosions increased with increasing disease duration (p<0.001; Table). For each disease duration group, the prevalence of erosions was higher in patients who were anti-CCP+ compared with those who were anti-CCP−.

Conclusion: Erosions were common in this cohort of patients, and prevalence of erosions increased with longer disease duration. Patients who were anti-CCP+ had higher rates of prevalent erosions than those who were anti-CCP– with similar disease duration.

Original abstract © EULAR/BMJ. First presented at EULAR 2017 and published in Ann Rheum Dis 2017;76 (Suppl 2):AB1143. Any reprints, promotional options, education material etc have to be done through the original source (ARD/BMJ).