Sex Differences in Rheumatoid Arthritis: New Insights From Clinical and Patient-Reported Outcome Perspectives
Objective The disease course and burden of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may differ between female and male individuals, but existing data on these differences are limited and often contradictory. Therefore, we investigated whether clinical outcomes and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) differ between female and male patients with RA over time. Methods All female (n = 286) and male (n = 139) patients with RA according to 1987 and/or 2010 criteria from Treatment in the Rotterdam Early Arthritis Cohort (tREACH), a stratified single-blinded trial with a treat-to-target (T2T) approach and fixed medication protocol, were included. Clinical outcomes include disease activity, medication usage, sustained disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD)-free remission (SDFR), and radiographic progression. In addition, the following PROs were investigated: general health, pain, functional ability, health-related quality of life, fatigue, productivity loss, and a possible depression or anxiety disorder. F
