THU0185 Reliability of ra mri scoring

Abstract

mortality than RF or ESR. In GEE analyses, the strongest predictor of PMN was, by far, the use of prednisone, with users having 1.8 (1.6, 2.0) thousand cells increase compared to non-users. Weaker predictors of PMN included sex, HAQ, ESR, RF, disease duration, but not age. Conclusion Total PMN predicts mortality in RA as effectively as RF, and the predictability is robust to duration of disease as well as to fixed and time-dependent disease severity covariates. This simple test appears to have been overlooked, but adds significantly to our ability to predict mortality in RA. Corticosteroids are the strongest influence on PMN among RA patients, and might be an important factor in mortality increase in RA. Treatment related PMN reduction that occurs in clinical trials of biologic agents may be a marker for increased survival, and is a candidate variable for measurement of pharmaco-economic benefit.