The 16-week Plants for Joints trial investigated the effects of a multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention in people with RA, as compared to usual care. The intervention was based on a whole-food, plant-based diet – alongside physical activity and stress management. Previous reports showed this intervention significantly reduced the 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28) compared to usual care alone.
To expand on this, the researchers wanted to determine the long-term effectiveness of the intervention, specifically with regards to disease activity after 2 years. After the initial 16-week randomized period, the control group also received the intervention, and participants were followed for 2 years with biannual visits and six adherence-promoting webinars annually. People with DAS28 <2.
6 also received a protocol as a suggested approach to try tapering their antirheumatic medication – under the supervision of their rheumatologist – and any treatment changes were recorded. In total, 62% of the original trial completers also completed the 2-year follow-up. Those who discontinued most often indicated that this was because they were too busy, unreachable, or did not give permission for the second year of the extension study.
The long-term results showed that improvement in DAS28 was maintained for 2 years after completing the intervention – and was significantly lower compared to baseline. Tender joint count and general health components of the DAS28 also improved signific.