Comparing outcomes of patients with early active rheumatoid arthritis initially treated on an inpatient or outpatient basis: a posthoc analysis of the CORRA trial.

Objective: Treatment strategies of patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) vary within and between countries. While most patients in Germany are treated on an outpatient basis, some are hospitalised (inpatients). In the recently published randomised CORRA (CORRA, CORticoid bridging in Rheumatoid Arthritis) trial, we studied two 12 week glucocorticoid (GC) bridging strategies in patients with early RA comparing high or low GC doses with placebo, followed by an extension phase of 9 months. Here, in this posthoc analysis, we compared 12 week outcomes of patients according to their initial treatment as inpatients or outpatients.

Methods: Inpatients initially spent 2-5 days (short-term) or 14 days (long-term) in one tertiary rheumatology hospital. Outpatients were mostly treated in rheumatology practices. There was no randomisation regarding the initial treatment strategy. The main endpoint of this posthoc analysis was Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) remission at weeks 4, 8 and 12.

Results: Data of 280 outpatients and 95 inpatients could be analysed. Inpatients were more often male, had less cardiovascular comorbidity, but higher baseline CDAI scores and more symptoms of depression compared with outpatients. At weeks 8 and 12, CDAI remission was more frequently observed in inpatients (week 8: 24.7 vs 14.9%; week 12: 30.5 vs 17.3%). These results were confirmed in a multivariable model: OR=2.43 (1.06; 5.55); p=0.035, and OR=2.91 (1.37; 6.14); p=0.005, respectively.

Conclusion: In early active RA, initial inpatient treatment was associated with higher CDAI remission rates at weeks 8 and 12. This may be due to the initially more intense hospital care.