Objective To assess if it is better to intensively treat all early RA patients with drug combinations or reserve this for those who do not appropriately respond to methotrexate monotherapy and assess if the combination therapy of methotrexate plus etanercept is superior to the combination of methotrexate plus sulfasalazine plus hydroxychloroquine. Methods The TEAR study is a 2-year, randomized, double-blind trial. Using a 2×2 factorial design, participants were randomized to one of four treatment arms: immediate combination therapy of methotrexate plus etanercept; or oral triple therapy (methotrexate plus sulfasalazine plus hydroxychloroquine); or initial methotrexate monotherapy with a step-up to one of the combination therapies (all arms included matching placebos). The primary outcome was an observed-group analysis of DAS28-ESR scores from weeks 48 to 102. Results At the week 24 step-up period, those receiving immediate combination therapy (etanercept plus methotrexate; or triple therapy) demonstrated greater reduction in DAS28-ESR compared to those on initial methotrexate monotherapy (DAS28-ESR: 3.6 vs. 4.6, p<0.0001), with no differences between regimens of combination therapy. For weeks 48 through 102, participants randomized to step-up arms had a DAS28-ESR clinical response that was not different than those who received initial combination therapy, regardless of the treatment arm (3.2 vs. 3.2, p=0.75). There was no significant difference in DAS28-ESR between participants receiving oral triple therapy versus combination methotrexate plus etanercept (3.1 vs. 3.2, p=0.42). By week 102, there was a small, statistically significant difference in change in radiographic measurements from baseline between methotrexate plus etanercept compared to oral triple therapy (0.64 vs. 1.69, p= 0.047). The absolute difference at week 102 was small. Conclusions There were no differences in the mean DAS28-ESR during weeks 48-102 between participants randomized to methotrexate plus etanercept or triple therapy, regardless of whether they received immediate combination treatment or step-up from methotrexate monotherapy. At 24 months, immediate combination treatment with either strategy was more effective than methotrexate monotherapy prior to step-up. Initial use of methotrexate monotherapy with the addition of sulfasalazine plus hydroxychloroquine; or etanercept, if necessary after 6 months, is a reasonable therapeutic strategy for early RA. The combination of etanercept plus methotrexate resulted in a statistically significant, but clinically small, radiographic benefit over oral triple therapy.

BackgroundDropouts and missing data are nearly-ubiquitous in obesity randomized controlled trails, threatening validity and generalizability of conclusions. Herein, we meta-analytically evaluate the extent of missing data, the frequency with which various analytic methods are employed to accommodate dropouts, and the performance of multiple statistical methods.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe searched PubMed and Cochrane databases (2000–2006) for articles published in English and manually searched bibliographic references. Articles of pharmaceutical randomized controlled trials with weight loss or weight gain prevention as major endpoints were included. Two authors independently reviewed each publication for inclusion. 121 articles met the inclusion criteria. Two authors independently extracted treatment, sample size, drop-out rates, study duration, and statistical method used to handle missing data from all articles and resolved disagreements by consensus. In the meta-analysis, drop-out rates were substantial with the survival (non-dropout) rates being approximated by an exponential decay curve (e−λt) where λ was estimated to be .0088 (95% bootstrap confidence interval: .0076 to .0100) and t represents time in weeks. The estimated drop-out rate at 1 year was 37%. Most studies used last observation carried forward as the primary analytic method to handle missing data. We also obtained 12 raw obesity randomized controlled trial datasets for empirical analyses. Analyses of raw randomized controlled trial data suggested that both mixed models and multiple imputation performed well, but that multiple imputation may be more robust when missing data are extensive.Conclusion/SignificanceOur analysis offers an equation for predictions of dropout rates useful for future study planning. Our raw data analyses suggests that multiple imputation is better than other methods for handling missing data in obesity randomized controlled trials, followed closely by mixed models. We suggest these methods supplant last observation carried forward as the primary method of analysis.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the joint effects of bereavement and caregiver intervention on caregiver depressive symptoms Design and Methods Alzheimer’s caregivers from a randomized trial of an enhanced caregiver support intervention versus usual care who had experienced the death of their spouse (n = 254) were repeatedly assessed with the Geriatric Depression Scale prior to and following bereavement. Random effects regression growth curve analyses examined the effects of treatment group and bereavement while controlling for other variables Results The death of the care recipient led to reductions in depressive symptoms for both caregiving groups. Enhanced support intervention led to lower depressive symptoms compared with controls both before and after bereavement. Post-bereavement group differences were stronger for caregivers of spouses who did not previously experience a nursing home placement. These caregivers maintained these differences for more than 1 year after bereavement. Caregivers who received the enhanced support intervention were more likely to show long-term patterns of fewer depressive symptoms before and after bereavement, suggesting resilience, whereas control caregivers were more likely to show chronic depressive symptoms before and after the death of their spouse. Implications Caregiver intervention has the potential to alter the long-term course of the caregiving career. Such clinical strategies may also protect caregivers against chronic depressive symptoms that would otherwise persist long after caregiving ends.

In this population of community-dwelling older African Americans and whites, neither BMI nor intentional weight loss had an association with rate of functional decline. Unintentional weight loss had a negative relation with rate of functional decline, regardless of baseline BMI. Whether this is causal remains to be determined.

Background Rapidly predicting future outcomes based upon short-term clinical response would be helpful to optimize RA management in early disease. Objective To derive and validate a clinical prediction rule to predict low disease activity (LDA) at 1 year among patients participating in the Treatment of Early Aggressive Rheumatoid Arthritis (TEAR) trial escalating RA therapy by adding either etanercept (E) or sulfasalazine + hydroxychloroquine [triple therapy (TT)] after 6 months of methotrexate (MTX) therapy. Methods Eligible subjects included in the derivation cohort (used for model building, n=186) were participants with moderate or higher disease activity (DAS28ESR>3.2) despite 24 weeks of MTX monotherapy who added either etanercept or sulfasalazine+hydroxychloroquine. Clinical characteristics measured within the next 12 weeks were used to predict LDA 1 year later using multivariable logistic regression. Validation was performed in the cohort of TEAR patients randomized to initially receive either MTX+E or TT. Results The derivation cohort yielded three prediction models of varying complexity that included age, DAS28 at various time points, body mass index, and ESR (AUROC up to 0.83). Accuracy of the prediction models ranged between 80 and 95% in both derivation and validation cohorts, depending on the complexity of the model and the cutpoints chosen for response and non-response. Approximately 80% of patients could be predicted to be responders or non-responders at week 12. Conclusion Clinical data collected early after starting or escalating DMARD/biologic treatment could accurately predict LDA at 1 year in early RA patients. For patients predicted to be non-responders, treatment could be changed at 12 weeks to optimize outcomes.