Ultrasound Assessment of Disease Activity Prevents Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drug (DMARD) Escalation and May Reduce DMARD-Related Direct Costs in Rheumatoid Arthritis With Fibromyalgia: An Exploratory Study.

Objectives: as an objective measure, ultrasound (US) could prevent rheumatoid arthritis (RA) overtreatment induced by concomitant fibromyalgia (FM). Our goal was to study how patients with RA and FM who underwent a US examination differed from those without a US examination in terms of overall disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) escalation and biologic DMARD-related direct costs.

Methods: Patients with RA and FM were seen between 2011 and 2017.