Rheumatoid arthritis: certolizumab pegol seems to improve quality of life

People with rheumatoid arthritis treated with certolizumab pegol (an anti-TNF) may enjoy improved quality of life, according to a new study published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.
Experts assessed the impact of certolizumab pegol on 1,063 people with rheumatoid arthritis that hadn’t responded well to at least one disease-modifying antirheumatic drug.

The volunteers gave information about physical function, pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and disease activity.

Up to one-third more people on certolizumab pegol showed improvements (compared with a pretend drug) in fatigue, sleep problems, pain and disease activity, and the benefits were maintained to the end of the trial at week 28.

“Rapid improvements in patient-reported outcomes were seen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with certolizumab pegol,” the research group says. “The magnitude of improvement exceeded the minimal clinically important difference in multiple domains, and demonstrated that certolizumab pegol improves aspects of health-related quality of life that are meaningful to patients and superior to placebo.”

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