Australian Living Guideline for the Pharmacological Management of Inflammatory Arthritis

Click here to access the living guideline. 

What are the Australian Living Guidelines?
This living guideline aims to present the best available, current scientific evidence for pharmacological management of the most common forms of Inflammatory Arthritis (IA), namely Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axial SpA). The treatment recommendations are developed by an expert panel of Australian rheumatologists, general practitioners and other medical specialists, allied health professionals and people with lived experience of rheumatic disease, so that the most up to date global evidence is applied to the Australian healthcare context.

Who are these Living Guidelines for?
This living guideline applies to all adults diagnosed with RA, PsA or axial SpA. It is intended for use by medical practitioners who treat IA. This is primarily rheumatologists; however, the guideline will also be relevant to GPs and others involved in the care of patients with IA and also for pharmacists and consumers.
The recommendations in this living guideline apply to all healthcare settings in Australia including public and private healthcare settings.

About this living guideline
This living guideline is being produced by the:

  • Australia and New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trials Network,
  • Australian Rheumatology Association (ARA)
  • Cochrane Musculoskeletal

as part of the Targeted Therapies Alliance, led by NPS MedicineWise.

This guideline was funded in part by the Australian Government Department of Health through the Value in Prescribing (VIP) Program Grant with the exception of the section on COVID-19 vaccination which was developed outside the scope of the grant.

Publications

  • Australian recommendations on tapering of biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in inflammatory arthritis (Internal Medicine Journal) May 2022 - Access here