RABBIT´s main goal is the investigation of long-term safety of biologic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. All adverse events, such as diseases or surgeries, which occur throughout the observation period of RABBIT, are to be recorded. They are analysed on a regular basis. The long-term observation of a high number of patients particularly renders evaluation of rare adverse events possible.
A further goal is to examine the long-term effectiveness of biologic DMARDs. To evaluate the course of rheumatoid arthritis in individual patients, data on disease activity, pain severity and physical function as well as on frequencies of doctor´s visits, hospitalization periods and premature pensions are assessed.
