ACPA-negative RA consists of subgroups: patients with high likelihood of achieving sustained DMARD-free remission can be identified by serological markers at disease presentation

Table 2 Association between the MBDA score and achieving sustained DMARD-free remission over time within ACPA-negative RA patients

	ACPA-negative RA patients
	Univariable analyses		Multivariable analysis Without MBDA		Multivariable analysis Including MBDA
	HR (95% CI)	p value	HR (95% CI)	p value	HR (95% CI)	p value
MBDA score
Low	Reference				Reference
Moderate	9.40 (1.21–72.85)	0.032			6.96 (0.88–55.31)	0.067
High	9.73 (1.33–71.10)	0.025			8.19 (1.09–61.78)	0.041
Age at disease onset, per year	1.04 (1.02–1.07)	0.001	1.03 (1.01–1.06)	0.006	1.03 (1.00–1.06)	0.036
Female	1.43 (0.80–2.55)	0.23
Symptom duration > 12 weeks	0.96 (0.54–1.70)	0.89
(Sub)acute symptom onset	0.93 (0.51–1.69)	0.81
66-SJC, per joint	1.04 (0.99–1.08)	0.099	1.03 (0.99–1.08)	0.15	1.02 (0.98–1.06)	0.40
68-TJC, per joint	0.99 (0.96–1.02)	0.56
ESR, per mm/h	1.01 (1.00–1.02)	0.17
CRP, per µg/mL	1.00 (1.00–1.01)	0.36
RF positivity	0.57 (0.29–1.09)	0.088	0.84 (0.42–1.66)	0.61	0.78 (0.39–1.58)	0.50

Of the 141 ACPA-negative RA patients, 48 achieved sustained DMARD-free remission. Baseline variables with a p value < 0.10 in univariable analyses were included in a multivariable analysis to assess the independent relation between baseline variables and sustained DMARD-free remission

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