Women Suffer From Rheumatoid Arthritis More Often Than Men

Women Suffer From Rheumatoid Arthritis More Often Than Men.
Rheumatoid arthritis patients can by and large looks forward to a much better quality of life today than they did 20 years ago, brand-new research suggests. The observation is based on a comparative multi-year tracking of more than 1100 rheumatoid arthritis patients. All had been diagnosed with the often fatally debilitating autoimmune disorder at some point between 1990 and 2011. The reason for the brighter outlook: a combination of better drugs, better annoy and mental health therapies, and a greater effort by clinicians to boost patient spirits while encouraging continued true activity.

And "Nowadays, besides research on new drug treatments, examination is mainly focused on examining which treatment works best for which patient, so therapy can become more 'tailor-made' and therefore be more effective for the mortal patient," said Cecile Overman, the study's lead author. Overman, a doctoral observer in clinical and health psychology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, expects that in another 20 years, rheumatoid arthritis patients will have the same property of life as anyone else "if the focus on the whole patient - not just the disease, but also the person's abstract and physical well-being - is maintained and treatment opportunities continue to evolve. The con was released online Dec 3, 2013 in Arthritis Care and Research.

In rheumatoid arthritis, the body's inoculated system mistakenly attacks the joints, the Arthritis Foundation explains. The resulting infection can damage joints and organs such as the heart. Patients practice sudden flare-ups with warm, swollen joints, pain and fatigue. Currently there is no cure but a discrepancy of drugs can treat symptoms and prevent the condition from getting worse.

Up to 1 percent of the world's populace currently struggles with the condition, according to the World Health Organization. The current study was composed on the whole of female rheumatoid arthritis patients (68 percent). Women are more prone to developing the ready than men. Patients ranged in age from 17 to 86, and all were Dutch.

Each was monitored for the strike of disease-related physical and mental health disabilities for anywhere from three to five years following their opening diagnosis. Disease activity was also tracked to assess progression. The observed trend: a striking two-decade drop in physical disabilities. The researchers also saw a decline in the incidence of eagerness and depression.

For example, roughly one-quarter of patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1990 could await to experience anxiety or depression after four years of treatment, compared with 12 percent to 14 percent of patients diagnosed today. While 53 percent of those diagnosed at the study's organize struggled with some width of physical disability after four years of therapy, that figure dropped to 31 percent in the midst new patients, the findings showed. Why? The team suggested that at least some of the quality-of-life hike seen among rheumatoid arthritis patients could be attributed to an overall plummet in disability activity - and ultimately physical disabilities - during the study period.

This was a result of overall improvements in care strategies. But investigators also pointed out that while overall quality of life has gotten markedly better over the years, sedulous psychological "distress" has not dissipated as much as the onset of physical disabilities. And this, they warned, argues against depiction any clear cause-and-effect conclusions based on the current analysis.

That said, "pharmacological dull treatment has improved a lot. And treatment has become more intense. To keep sore and disease progression to a minimum, patients start medication as soon as possible, are monitored more frequently and medications are combined for optimal efficacy. Furthermore, noticeable new anti-inflammatory drugs have become available, such as the biologic agents".

She added that non-medication treatments - including apply therapy and a form of counseling known as cognitive behavioral analysis - have also been shown to help. The bottom line is: "Today, rheumatoid arthritis patients have a better opening of living a valued life than patients diagnosed with this autoimmune malady two decades ago". Dr John Hardin - vice president for investigating at the Arthritis Foundation, and a professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City - wholeheartedly agreed.

So "Today we have a intact new series of drugs that have changed the semblance of the disease. all very good drugs. So the challenge now is to find the straight off drug for the right patient". Hardin said his foundation is focused on helping to develop tools and techniques that show beforehand which panacea is best for which patient, to better tailor treatments. "And I'm very optimistic present forward given the new powers of biomedical research, and genetics find out more. I think we have every reason to maintain that even better treatments will continue to come along, and we'll know better and better just how to apply those treatments".