6 Recommendations for further research

6 Recommendations for further research

6.1 Further secondary research is recommended to understand:

  • the clinical validity of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests, that is the correlation between ELISA test results and health outcomes or states, such as remission, response, low or high disease activity or flares in rheumatoid arthritis

  • the comparative performance of different ELISA tests for therapeutic monitoring of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‑alpha inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis.

6.2 Further primary research is recommended on the clinical effectiveness of using ELISA tests for therapeutic monitoring of TNF‑alpha inhibitors in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

  • National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)