Comparison of treatment strategies in early rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized trial.

Background: In patients with early rheumatoid arthritis, initial combination therapies provide earlier clinical improvement and less progression of joint damage after 1 year compared with initial monotherapies (as demonstrated in the BeSt study).

Objective: To evaluate whether the initial clinical and radiographic efficacy of combination therapies could be maintained during the second year of follow-up in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis.

Design: Randomized, controlled clinical trial with blinded assessors.