This resource page was created to help clinicians gain greater understanding of the many recent advances in the diagnosis and management of rheumatoid arthritis and put them into daily practice.
In addition to articles from The Journal of Musculoskeletal Medicine, you'll find the latest news on rheumatoid arthritis from around the Web. We encourage you to check back regularly, because this information is updated often.
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Treatment targets have helped improve outcomes in other areas of medicine. Now an international task force has developed recommendations for RA. In a series of four podcasts, Stephen A. Paget, MD, Chairman of the Division of Rheumatology at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and a Journal of Musculoskeletal Medicine editorial board member, will discuss the key points and implications regarding the use of biologic agents, managing RA comorbidities, future RA treatment, and health care reform. Part 1 focuses on the use of biologic agents.
How RA comorbidities might be addressed differently in light of new international task force recommendations is the subject of this discussion from Stephen A. Paget, MD, Chairman of the Division of Rheumatology at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
The implications of international task force recommendations for future RA treatment are the focus of this discussion from Stephen A. Paget, MD, Chairman of the Division of Rheumatology at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
Stephen A. Paget, MD, Chairman of the Division of Rheumatology at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, speculates on how health reform might alter the RA landscape.
Jennifer P. Schneider, MD, PhD, a specialist in addiction medicine and pain management, discusses the myths and misunderstandings that prevent physicians from prescribing opioids for the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain, such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and low back pain.
ABSTRACT: The aging process is difficult, involving multisystem functional decline, and the pharmacokinetics of medications are altered in the older population, resulting in increased risks. Concerns associated with biologic therapy are demonstrated in case reports.
In patients who have early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), American College of Rheumatology (ACR) core set measures after 12 weeks of nonbiologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) treatment may predict the progression of articular destruction 2 years later.
Remission must be the ultimate therapeutic goal for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to an international task force that set out to develop recommendations for achieving optimal outcomes in RA in clinical practice. Treatment targets have helped improve outcomes in other areas of medicine (eg, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension), the investigators noted, but treatment targets had not been defined for RA, even in light of major treatment changes in recent years (see Box, “Sea change in RA treatment"). Therefore, using evidence obtained from a systematic literature review and expert opinion, they formulated a consensus finding that resulted in 10 recommendations for treatment to target in RA.
The deleterious effects of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on employment and productivity are clearly associated with a burden on the US economy. However, RA also has significant “social costs” for both employed and unemployed persons.
MRI abnormalities that resemble rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathologies often are found in the metacarpophalangeal and wrist joints of healthy persons. Although MRI is highly sensitive for tracking the progression of erosions, it has low specificity for RA, suggesting caution in the interpretation of joint lesions on MRI, especially in early arthritis.
ABSTRACT: Evidence of ongoing juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) into adulthood has led to a shift in the treatment paradigm. Most physicians now pursue an approach of early, aggressive combination therapy.
Neither preterm birth nor being breastfed is significantly associated with the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). These findings are consistent with those of previous investigations for a null association between RA and gestational age, but the previously reported protective effect of being breastfed was not confirmed.
Plantar pressures measurement, frequently used in rehabilitation and related research, is highly reliable in evaluating patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to researchers at the University Rehabilitation Institute, Republic of Slovenia, in Ljubljana. On the basis of their findings, they concluded that such measurement is suitable for clinical practice, as well as for research, and recommended taking several measurements and using the average.
The duration of morning stiffness in patients who have rheumatoid arthritis (RA) correlates better with other patient-reported outcomes than with joint counts and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR).
Nonadherence to the treatment regimen is a major problem that affects about one-third of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who use disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
The dollars being spent on aggregate overall direct medical expenditures for adults with arthritis are almost double the group's share of the population. The societal and individual burden of arthritis has increased, and this increase probably will grow.
MRI for earlier diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis The armamentarium of treatment modalities available to physicians seeing patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other forms of inflammatory arthritis has increased dramatically in recent years. In particular, the introduction of the biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), most notably the tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-a) inhibitors, has afforded clinicians new opportunities to mitigate disease progression.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often presents late, when irreversible damage has occurred. More than half of primary care consultations are for joint pain,1 but the average time from initial presentation with symptoms to confirmation of diagnosis of RA is 18 weeks.2
Close to three-fourths of women who have rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experience pain on a daily basis, even though three-fourths receive medication for pain relief, according to a new study presented at the 2010 Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), held recently in Rome. More »
After a sharp decline in the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) over the previous 4 decades, it appears to have increased slightly in women in more recent years, along with an increase in prevalence. More »
With the introduction of the tumor necrosis factor α inhibitors for RA treatment, there is greater interest in securing the diagnosis early to ensure prompt initiation of therapy.
