title: Timing the therapeutic window of opportunity in early rheumatoid arthritis: proposal for definitions of disease duration in clinical trials.
abstract: The effects of treatment in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the consequences of delayed therapy represent important areas for research. The concept of a 'window of opportunity' is now well established and considerable attention has been paid to when it might close. However, in order to study how long the window of opportunity lasts, the timing of its opening must be precisely defined. An analysis of definitions of 'onset' in clinical studies reveals imprecision and heterogeneity, making accurate assessment of this important concept of the 'window of opportunity' very difficult. In this paper we propose that, in clinical trials in early RA, data on durations since onset of symptoms and onset of joint swelling as well as disease duration based on fulfilment of classification criteria should be routinely presented.
authors.affiliation: Division of Immunity and Infection, Rheumatology Research Group, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. k.raza@bham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Raza
authors.forename: Tajvur P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Saber
authors.forename: Tore K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Kvien
authors.forename: Paul P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Tak
authors.forename: Danielle M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Gerlag
mesh_terms: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents