For patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with stable low disease activity (LDA) who stopped TNF inhibitor (TNFi) treatment, a high baseline multi-biomarker disease activity (MBDA) score was independently predictive of disease relapse within 12 months. This according to a study that analyzed 439 RA patients post hoc who were randomized to stop TNFi treatment in the POET study. 3 indicators of disease relapse were assessed over 12 months: 1) restarting TNFi treatment, 2) escalation of any disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy and 3) physician-reported flare. MBDA score was assessed at baseline. Researchers found:

• At baseline, 50.1%, 35.3%, and 14.6% of patients had low (<30), moderate (30−44), or high (>44) MBDA scores, respectively.
• Within 12 months, 49.9% of patients had restarted TNFi medication, 59.0% had escalation of any DMARD, and 57.2% had ≥1 physician-reported flare.
• MBDA score was associated with each indicator of relapse.
• At least 1 indicator of relapse was observed in 59.5%, 68.4%, and 81.3% of patients with low, moderate or high MBDA scores, respectively.