Biologics for Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain (BIORA-PAIN)

It is increasingly recognized that although suppression of inflammation is a treatment goal in rheumatoid arthritis, many people who have control of their inflammation continue to experience pain. A number of studies have recently shown that by measuring further characteristics of pain in rheumatoid arthritis, e.g. neuropathic pain, quantitative sensory testing, compared with objective measures of inflammation, it is possible to acquire more detailed information about the level of pain in relation to inflammation that a patient with rheumatoid arthritis is experiencing, which could assist in developing their care. In this study, the investigators will explore validated endpoints for pain including the Visual Analogue Scale for pain, neuropathic pain scores and quantitative sensory testing for pain. The investigators will evaluate in a population-based study, the pain profile using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), neuropathic pain assessment, quantitative sensory testing (QST) by pain pressure thresholds (PPT) in comparison to markers of inflammation in order to assess the difference in pain outcomes between baseline pre- and post- treatment in a population of participants with active Rheumatoid Arthritis treated with abatacept and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) inhibitors respectively. All measures will be conducted systematically in the abatacept and TNF inhibitor groups pre- and post-treatment with respective biologic agents. Participants with active Rheumatoid Arthritis who may be eligible for biologic treatment will be screened for enrolment into the study.