Background/Purpose: The CORRONA International (C.Intl) rheumatoid arthritis (RA) registry is the first multinational RA registry uniformly collecting baseline and longitudinal data.  We explored variations in RA disease (dx) activity and drug utilization across regions participating in this new international registry, with the well-established CORRONA US (C.USA) RA registry.

Methods: The C.Intl registry, launched in September 2011, is a multi-center, observational registry. Adult RA patients (pts) have been enrolled from 83 rheumatology practices in 10 countries in 3 regions [Latin America (LA): Mexico, Brazil, Argentina; Eastern Europe (EEu): Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Ukraine; Asia (AS): India].   The only exclusion criteria are functional class IV and age >85 years old. The C.USA registry was launched in 2001 and enrolls pts from 111 rheumatology practices across the US. There are no exclusion criteria.

Both registries collect data in a similar manner on demographics, lifestyle characteristics, anthropometry, medication exposures, adverse events and comorbidities from rheumatologists and RA pts at regular clinical encounters.

We present baseline descriptive data across the regions participating in C.Intl, including variations in: RA drug utilization, dx activity and functionality. We explored differences stratified by new (≤3 years duration) versus established (3+ years) dx. We compared cross-sectional baseline C.Intl data by region with cross-sectional data from the most recent visit of pts enrolled in C.USA excluding those with functional class IV and >85 years of age. No formal statistical testing was conducted.

Results: As of March 4 2013, 5696 pts had been enrolled in C.Intl and 20,291 RA pts with a functional class Mean (Standard Deviation (SD)) age was highest in the US and lowest in Asia [LA 54.2 years (12.9), EEu 57.1 (12.2), AS 47.6 (11.9), US 60.3 (12.6)]. The majority of patients were women (LA: 86.7%, EEu: 83.4%, AS: 85.5%, US: 76.6%). Mean (SD) disease duration was indicative of overall established dx [LA 9.9 years (8.7), EU 9.1 (8.6), AS 6.3 (5.8), US 12 (10.1)]. The majority of pts were seropositive (LA 83.5%, EU 76.4%, AS 65.4%, US 76%).

Overall and when stratified by disease duration, dx activity was higher, but functionality, biologic drug utilization and narcotic pain medication use were lower in C.Intl regions compared to C.USA (Table 1).

Conclusion: There are important regional differences in disease activity, functionality, and management of RA, which may be influenced by variations in demographic and genetic backgrounds of pts populations, prescribing patterns of local physicians and regional differences in standard of care. The ongoing recruitment and follow-up of more patients in C.Intl will enable prospective studies of therapeutic variations and disease outcomes in different regions.