The purpose of the study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of managing patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) while using the «Internet portal for self-monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis activity».
Material and methods. The main group included 50 females with RA diagnosis at an average age of 56.3 years (35; 76). The control group consisted of 20 patients having treatment in real clinical practice. They were comparable to the main group by their clinical and demographic parameters and the degree of disease activity at the time of inclusion in the study. Previously patients were trained according to the “Structured training program for RA patients in independent monitoring of disease activity” methodology. The patient monthly makes a self-assessment of the disease activity and transmits information to his doctor by remote way. If the course of the disease is getting worse and there is no positive dynamics, according to the patient, he is invited to the center, where this information is verified by a doctor. If, by the opinion of the patient, improvement is observed, then he does not come to visit the doctor, but continues the recommended therapy. Results. For these 12 months of observation, 50 persons were examined and received treatment recommendations. It is noted the positive dynamics of RA development: the average value of the DAS28 disease activity index at the time of inclusion and after 6 months of observation is 4,023 (2.70; 5.78) and 1.59 (0.56; 4.37) (Wilcoxon T-test = 6). 8 (16%) patients at the time of inclusion in the study had 1st degree of RA activity, 38 (76%) - 2nd degree, 4 (8%) - 3rd degree. On the 12th visit, 13 (26%) patients reached the 1st degree of RA activity, 34 (68%) patients achieved remission (DAS28 <2.6). Conclusion. Monitoring of patients through the “Internet portal of self-monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis activity” allows you to quickly identify an exacerbation of the disease and timely enhance the current therapy, which leads to a more rapid achievement of remission or decrease the disease activity.

Keywords: Internet portal, rheumatoid arthritis, self-assessment of disease activity