Improvement of health status evaluated by Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale 2 (AIMS-2) and Short Form-36 (SF-36) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with tocilizumab.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the improvement of health status in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with tocilizumab.


METHODS
Thirty-nine patients were treated with 8 mg/kg tocilizumab every 4 weeks for 24 weeks. Disease activity was assessed by Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI). Improvement of health status was assessed by Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale 2 (AIMS-2) and Short Form-36 (SF-36).


RESULTS
Tocilizumab improved CDAI and SDAI significantly at week 4 compared with at baseline. In the components of AIMS-2, "physical score", "symptom" and "affect" improved significantly at week 4 compared with at baseline, while "social interaction" did not improve significantly during 24 weeks of tocilizumab therapy. Similarly in SF-36, "bodily pain", "general health", "vitality" and "mental health" improved significantly at week 4. The most correlative component of AIMS-2 with CDAI was "symptom", while "social interaction" did not correlate with CDAI during tocilizumab treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
The time-course diversity in improvement of health status should be considered to provide proper healthcare when treated with tocilizumab.
Division of Nursing, NTT West Osaka Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
Mie
M
Fusama
Hideko
H
Nakahara
Yoshimasa
Y
Hamano
Masayuki
M
Nishide
Keisuke
K
Kawamoto
Takashi
T
Hosokawa
Satoko
S
Nozato
Shinji
S
Higa
Tsuyoshi
T
Igarashi
Eiji
E
Takeuchi
Takanori
T
Kuroiwa
Yasunori
Y
Shimaoka
Masao
M
Yukioka
Yasushi
Y
Miura
Kayoko
K
Higashi
Taro
T
Kuritani
Keiji
K
Maeda
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; C502936:tocilizumab