What do patients prefer? A multinational, longitudinal, qualitative study on patient-preferred treatment outcomes in early rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: To explore treatment outcomes preferred by patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and how these change throughout the early disease stage across three European countries.

Methods: A longitudinal, qualitative, multicentre study was conducted in Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. 80 patients with early RA were individually interviewed 3-9 months after treatment initiation and 51 of them participated again in either a focus group or an individual interview 12-21 months after treatment initiation.