The composite DAS Score is impractical to use in daily practice: evidence that physicians use the objective component of the DAS in decision making.

Introduction And Background: The disease activity score for 28 joints (DAS28) is widely used for assessing disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis and its use is recommended for establishing the need for anti- tumor necrosis factor drugs, according to British Society for Rheumatology guidelines. However, calculation of the score requires a laboratory measurement of inflammation (either erythrocyte sedimentation rate or C-reactive protein) so that it is not possible to have the actual score when the patient seen in the clinic and, therefore, it is not possible to make immediate treatment decisions based on the DAS28 score.

Methods: This is an audit of clinic-based treatment decisions, collecting data for the DAS28 on consecutive patients with rheumatoid arthritis.