Predictors of treatment response and drug continuation in 842 patients with ankylosing spondylitis treated with anti-tumour necrosis factor: results from 8 years' surveillance in the Danish nationwide DANBIO registry.
To use prospectively registered data from the Danish nationwide rheumatological database (DANBIO) to describe disease activity, clinical response, treatment duration and predictors of drug survival (ie, number of days individual patients maintained treatment) and clinical response among patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) receiving their first treatment series with a tumour necrosis factor a (TNFa) inhibitor.
842 TNFa inhibitor naive patients with AS were identified in DANBIO. Clinical response, drug survival and predictors thereof were investigated. 'Clinical response' was defined as a 50% or 20 mm reduction in Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) within 6 months compared with baseline. Achievement of a BASDAI 14 mg/l and low visual analogue scale fatigue (Cox regression analysis). Age, TNFa inhibitor and methotrexate use were insignificant. CRP >14 mg/l, lower BASFI and younger age at baseline was associated with clinical response and achievement of a BASDAI
