{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,7]],"date-time":"2026-11-07T23:18:55Z","timestamp":1794093535902,"version":"4.8.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769126400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["82471832"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82471832"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100021171","name":"Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic research Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["2024A1515012882"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024A1515012882"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100021171","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Hand joint deformity remains a main cause impairing quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study aimed to investigate the association between biologic and targeted-synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b\/tsDMARDs) treatment and the prevalence of hand joint deformity in RA patients. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional analysis included RA patients recruited between 2019 and 2024. Hand joint deformity was defined as the presence of specific deformity in any of 28 hand joints, including the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints I-V, proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints I-V, and distal interphalangeal (DIP) joints II-V. The key exposure was the use of b\/tsDMARDs. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between b\/tsDMARDs treatment and hand joint deformity. Results: A total of 1083 RA patients with a mean age of 52.6 \u00b1 12.4 years and a median disease duration of 5 (2,11) years were included. Hand joint deformity was present in 25.4% (275\/1083) of patients. The top three deformed joint locations were PIP V (12.9%, 140\/1083), PIP III (11.6%, 126\/1083), and PIP IV (10.9%, 118\/1083). The top three deformity types were ulnar deviation of MCP II-V (8.0%, 87\/1083), boutonniere deformity of II-V fingers (6.8%, 74\/1083), and swan neck deformity of II-V fingers (6.7%, 73\/1083). In total, 17.4% (188\/1083) of patients had received b\/tsDMARDs. After 1:1 propensity score matching for age, sex, and disease duration, the prevalence of deformity was significantly lower in patients treated with conventional medicine (csDMARDs and\/or GCs) add-on b\/tsDMARDs compared to those treated with conventional medicine (27.1% vs. 61.7%, p &lt; 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that b\/tsDMARDs use was independently associated with a lower prevalence of hand joint deformity after adjusting for confounding factors (OR = 0.211, 95%CI: 0.129\u20130.345, p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: The use of b\/tsDMARDs was independently associated with a lower prevalence of hand joint deformity in RA.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina62020241","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T17:52:38Z","timestamp":1769190758000},"page":"241","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Association of Biologic\/Targeted-Synthetic DMARDs with a Lower Prevalence of Hand Joint Deformity in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Cross-Sectional Real-World Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"62","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-8440-1624","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ying","family":"Yang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0973-7063","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jian-Zi","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4648-2194","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yao-Wei","family":"Zou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-7579-8360","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ya-Nan","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5961-0426","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tao","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pei-Yu","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ran","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-5708-7710","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhi-Ming","family":"Ouyang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kui-Min","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7562-3710","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ze-Hong","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-2504-0654","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jian-Da","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6596-8889","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lie","family":"Dai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2019","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(23)01525-8","article-title":"Rheumatoid arthritis","volume":"402","author":"Bathon","year":"2023","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"415","DOI":"10.1038\/s41584-022-00793-5","article-title":"Mechanisms of joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis\u2014Immune cell-fibroblast-bone interactions","volume":"18","author":"Komatsu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nat. 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