Poppelaars PBM, et al. - In this COBRA-trial, authors compared the candidates with a sample of the Dutch population investigated the mortality among cases with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after 23 years follow-up. They recorded the death of 44 candidates ie, 20/75 COBRA cases and 24/79 sulfasalazine monotherapy (SSZ) patients. They recorded following agents linked to inclined mortality risk: damage progression at 28 weeks; high Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score and absence of HLA-DR 2 or 3. They noticed an uninterpretable trend but significant disease duration from the start of complaints. Overall, they reported the beneficial impact of the intensive treatment of RA.