Early aggressive intervention with tocilizumab for rheumatoid arthritis increases remission rate defined using a Boolean approach in clinical practice.

The goal of treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) should be remission, for which a new definition was proposed in 2011. To determine which patients can achieve the new Boolean-based definition of remission in clinical practice, we analyzed factors associated with remission in 123 patients who received tocilizumab for 52 weeks. We found that patients with short disease duration (<4.8 years) had a significantly higher rate of remission (31.7%) than those with longer disease duration, and patient global assessment was the most important factor for achieving remission. Multivariate analysis revealed the following predictors of remission: short disease duration [<4.8 years; odds ratio (OR) 2.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-4.7] and lower disease activity [28-joint disease activity score-erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) <5.23; OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.2-5.1). In this study, we showed that remission, as newly defined using a Boolean approach, is a realistic goal for patients treated with tocilizumab with short disease duration in real-world clinical practice.