About RABBIT-SpA

RABBIT-SpA is the German disease register for axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), initiated in May 2017 by the German Rheumatism Research Centre (DRFZ). Our register is a prospective observational cohort study and is being conducted very similar to our well-known register for rheumatoid arthritis called RABBIT (“Rheumatoide Arthritis – Beobachtung der Biologika-Therapie”).

Aims of the register

• Analysis of prognostic and predictive factors
• Generation of long-term real world data
• Analysis of long-term safety data
• Social and economic burden of the diseases

Study design

Adult patients (age ≥ 18 years) diagnosed with axSpA or PsA starting a new therapy with biologics, conventional therapy or tsDMARDs by a rheumatologist can be enrolled. Participating rheumatology clinics or practices all over Germany enroll patients with at least one prior failure of a systemic therapy. Patients receiving a new b/tsDMARD are included in the treatment group, while patients receiving a conventional systemic treatment are included in the control group.

• informed consent
• diagnosis of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA)
• age at inclusion >=18 years
• start of a new therapy with b/tsDMARD (treatment group)
• or start of conventional treatment (control group)

After enrollment, data are collected after 3 and 6 months, and then every 6 months covering physician and patient reported parameters. The aim is to document every patient for 10 years.
The physician CRF contains data on onset of first symptoms, first contact with a rheumatologist and date of first diagnosis. Information on comorbidities and extra-articular manifestations is collected as well as current and past antirheumatic therapy, both medical and non-medical. Disease activity is measured using a variety of instruments, including established composite scores of disease activity, clinical parameters such as laboratory values and imaging results. The patient questionnaire contains sociodemographic information and a number of PROMs (for example, BASDAI and BASFI for axSpA and the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) for PsA).

You can find the study protocol here.

Results are shown here.