Effects of Teriparatide on Joint Erosions in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Teriparatide in the context of rheumatoid arthritis in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Articular erosions correlate with disability in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

This study was undertaken to assess the effects of the anabolic agent teriparatide on joint erosion volume in RA patients treated with a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi).

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 24 patients were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

The researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial in 24 patients with erosive RA, osteopenia, and disease activity controlled by TNFi treatment for at least 3 months.

Subjects and primary rheumatologists were not blinded with regard to treatment assignment, but all outcomes were assessed in a blinded manner.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Teriparatide and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

The timeline in the abstract includes 1 year.

Half were randomized to receive teriparatide for 1 year and the others constituted a wait-list control group.

The primary outcome measure was change in erosion volume determined by computed tomography at 6 anatomic sites.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Antirheumatic Agents, Arthritis, Rheumatoid, Bone Density, Bone Density Conservation Agents, Bone Diseases, Metabolic, Metacarpophalangeal Joint and Radius.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Teriparatide in 24 patients in people with rheumatoid arthritis over 1 year.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2017 (Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.)), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Teriparatide compound page, Rheumatoid arthritis research.