Trends in treatment and outcomes of ankylosing spondylitis in outpatient rheumatological care in Germany between 2000 and 2012.

Objectives: To describe changes in drug treatment and clinical outcomes of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) during the past decade.

Methods: The national database of the German collaborative arthritis centres collects clinical and patient-derived data from unselected outpatients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Cross-sectional data from 2000 to 2012 of around 1000 patients with AS per year were compared with regard to clinical presentation and quality of life indicators.

Changes in referral, treatment and outcomes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in Germany in the 1990s and the 2000s.

Objective: To evaluate trends in the referral, treatment and outcome of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Germany over two decades.

Methods: From 1993 to 2012, ∼1200 patients with SLE were recorded annually in the national database of the German Collaborative Arthritis Centres. Treatment patterns, healthcare use and outcomes, such as disease activity, function and work participation, were evaluated over time.

Evolution of cost structures in rheumatoid arthritis over the past decade.

Objective: To estimate the changes in direct and indirect costs induced by patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in German rheumatology, between 2002 and 2011. To examine the impact of functional status on various cost domains. To compare the direct costs incurred by patients at working age (18-64 years) to patients at an age of retirement (≥65 years).

Clinical presentation, burden of disease and treatment in young-onset and late-onset rheumatoid arthritis: a matched-pairs analysis taking age and disease duration into account.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to compare clinical features and treatment of young onset rheumatoid arthritis with late-onset rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods: Nine thousand five hundred forty-one patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) enrolled in the national database of the German Collaborative Arthritis Centres in 2007-2009 were stratified by age at disease onset: up to 65 years (YORA), >65 years (LORA). To enable unbiased comparisons between the two groups despite their systematic differences in age and disease duration, we performed two separate matched-pairs analyses: the impact of current age was assessed by matching YORA and LORA patients for disease duration and sex (n=1,550 pairs).

Performance of the 2011 ACR/EULAR preliminary remission criteria compared with DAS28 remission in unselected patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To compare the performance of the preliminary American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) remission criteria with the 28-joint count Disease Activity Score (DAS28) remission in unselected 'real-life' patients.

Methods: Remission was calculated according to the DAS28 and to both versions of the ACR/EULAR criteria (Boolean or Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI)-based) for 6864 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who were enrolled in the national database of the German Collaborative Arthritis Centres between 2007 and 2009. Logistic regression analyses identified factors that were responsible for patients in DAS28 remission to miss the new criteria.