Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is easily the most common inflammatory kind of arthritis, affecting more than 2 million Americans. This is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory ailment that causes systemic problems, meaning it may affect body organs, such as the lungs, heart, bone marrow, and eye. It is also a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular complications including stroke and cardiac event.

Included with these concerns may be the significant problem with rheumatism which is that if not treated aggressively, it can lead to irreversible joint damage, chronic pain, and functional disability.

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Nevertheless there is still no remedy for the illness yet, RA may be treatable and even put into remission if diagnosed early and given urgency.

While many of the new medicines which have been coded in recent times are effective, there is certainly still no consensus where one to use first, what type to make use of second, when to switch drugs, when was the right time and energy to discontinue one drug and begin another, and so forth.

Perhaps, with time we will be able to individualize treatment programs. Progress in neuro-scientific what exactly are called “biomarkers”- tissue evidence that may give us an original profile associated with a given patient- will require us to another level of treatment.

A bright spot is the continued development of newer therapies with assorted modes of action that will permit more choices, fewer negative effects, and more convenience.

Nonetheless, what is clear at this time is the fact that delaying proper treatment results in functional decline which is difficult, or even impossible, to reverse.

This loss in physical function leads to reduced productivity and increased healthcare costs.

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Numerous research has viewed various treatments and shown that the mix of methotrexate, the disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) of choice along with a biologic drug results in a significantly greater chance of improvement and less probability of unemployability.

Another study has demonstrated that period of time of disease and amount of functional impairment correlate with higher medical costs and greater disability.

Plus an additional study by Maetzel and colleagues indicated that RA costs also look like more than that because of other common health conditions including osteoarthritis and hypertension (Maetzel A, et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2004; 63: 395-401).

The major hurdle today gets patients with early RA with a rheumatologist early and achieving the rheumatologist initiate aggressive treatment as soon as possible. Much more about this in future articles.