OP0315 ACHIEVING A LOW DISEASE STATE WITHIN FIRST 3 MONTHS IN EARLY RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS RESULTS IN LOWER FATIGUE OVER 5 YEARS

Abstract

Background Up to 80% of rheumatoid arthritis patients report clinically relevant fatigue.1 Fatigue is complex multi-factorial process that can result in adverse affects on patients’ physical and emotional well-being.2 Objectives To examine the relationship between disease activity and fatigue over time in early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA). Methods Data were from patients with ERA (symptoms ≤ 12 months) enrolled in the Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort (CATCH). CATCH participants completed repeat clinical assessments, laboratory investigations and self-reported questionnaires including rating their fatigue over the past week using a 10 point numerical rating scale (NRS). Fatigue severity was classified as low (≤2); moderate (>2 but Results Of the 1864 patients included, 1640 (88%) met criteria for RA, 1342 (72%) were women and most had moderate-high baseline disease with a mean (SD) DAS28 of 4.9 (1.5). Fatigue was common with 19% reporting moderate and 59% severe fatigue at baseline. Fatigue was positively and strongly correlated with pain and patient global ratings (r 0.56-0.67, p DAS28: disease activity score in 28 joints; REM: remission; LDA: low disease activity; MDA: moderate disease activity; HDA: high disease activity. Conclusion Fatigue is common in ERA and is most strongly correlated with pain and disease activity. Early treatment response within 3-months was associated with short and long-term improvements in fatigue over time. Further longitudinal research examining the time-varing effects of both clinical and psychosocial factors on fatigue is needed.