Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms Reportedly Less Severe

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Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms Reportedly Less Severe

-- Dennis

FRIDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have some good news

for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers: The disease is becoming milder,

with less severe symptoms and less functional disability compared to

that experienced by arthritis patients in the past.

The exact reasons for the decline in rheumatoid arthritis severity

remains unclear, Dutch researchers say, but may stem from the more

aggressive drug therapies that are now available to patients.

Reporting in the September issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism,

researchers reviewed the cases of rheumatoid arthritis sufferers

treated by the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre since 1985.

" Patients with early rheumatoid arthritis presenting in recent years

have less severe disease activity at presentation, as well as a more

favorable course of their disease, compared with patients in earlier

years, " lead researcher Paco Welsing said in a prepared statement.

His team found a correlation between more aggressive treatment

strategies and less severe symptoms among more recent groups of

patients. These included the use of early treatment with the drugs

methotrexate or prednisone to manage both the symptoms and

destructive progression of arthritis.

More information

The National Institutes of Health has more about rheumatoid arthritis.

http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/09/02/

hscout527759.html