A Study to Assess the Effect of Tocilizumab on Signs and Symptoms in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

ACR50 response: ≥50% improvement in tender or swollen joint counts and 50% improvement in 3 of the following 5 criteria: 1) Physician's global assessment of disease activity, 2) participant assessment of disease activity, 3) Patient Assessment of Pain (VAS), 4) participant assessment of functional disability via a HAQ, and 5) ESR at each visit.

ACR70 response: ≥70% improvement in tender or swollen joint counts and 70% improvement in 3 of the following 5 criteria: 1) Physician's global assessment of disease activity, 2) participant assessment of disease activity, 3) Patient Assessment of Pain (VAS), 4) participant assessment of functional disability via a HAQ, and 5) ESR at each visit.

HAQ-DI is a participant-reported questionnaire specific for rheumatoid arthritis. It consists of 20 questions referring to 8 component sets: dressing/grooming, arising, eating, walking, hygiene, reach, grip, and activities. Each domain has at least 2 component questions. There are 4 possible responses for each component 0=without any difficulty 1=with some difficulty 2=with much difficulty 3=unable to do. To calculate HAQ-DI the participant must have a domain score for at least 6 of 8 domains. The HAQ-DI is the sum of the scores, divided by the number of domains that have a score (in range 6-8) for a total possible score minimum/maximum 0 (best) to 3 (worst).

FACIT-F is a 13-item questionnaire. Participants scored each item on a 5-point scale: 0 (Not at all) to 4 (Very much). The larger the response to the questions (with the exception of 2 negatively stated), the greater the fatigue. For all questions, except for the 2 negatively stated ones, the code was reversed and a new score was calculated as (4 minus the participants response). The sum of all responses resulted in the FACIT-Fatigue score for a total possible score of 0 (worse score) to 52 (better score). A higher score reflects an improvement in the health status.

DAS28-ESR calculated from the number of swollen joints and tender joints using the 28 joints count, the ESR (millimeters per hour [mm/hour]) and Patient's Global Assessment of disease activity (participant rated arthritis activity assessment) with transformed scores ranging 0 to 10; higher scores indicated greater affectation due to disease activity. DAS28 less than or equal to (≤)3.2 equals (=) low disease activity, DAS28 greater than (>)3.2 to 5.1 = moderate to high disease activity.

DAS28-ESR calculated from the number of swollen joints and tender joints using the 28 joints count, the ESR (mm/hour) and Patient's Global Assessment of disease activity (participant rated arthritis activity assessment) with transformed scores ranging 0 to 10; higher scores indicated greater affectation due to disease activity. DAS28 <2.6=remission.

DAS28-ESR calculated from the number of swollen joints and tender joints using the 28 joints count, the ESR (mm/hour) and Patient's Global Assessment of disease activity (participant rated arthritis activity assessment) with transformed scores ranging 0 to 10; higher scores indicated greater affectation due to disease activity. DAS28 >2.6 and <3.2=low disease activity.

Time to onset of ACR 20/50/70 response was calculated as the number of weeks from the administration of the first dose of study drug until the date of first achievement of ACR 20/50/70 per criteria.