Flares in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients with Low Disease Activity: Predictability and Association with Worse Clinical Outcomes

Abstract

Flares occur frequently in RA patients with LDA and are associated with worse disease activity, quality of life, and radiographic progression. Higher baseline HAQ-DI was modestly predictive of flare, while biomarker correlation at the time of flare suggests a noninflammatory component in a majority of events.