Skip to content
2000
Volume 13, Issue 6
  • ISSN: 1568-0266
  • E-ISSN: 1873-4294

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most frequent form of chronic polyarthritis, affecting 0.5-1% of adults worldwide. In recent years there have been important advances in the pathogenesis of RA, together with new diagnostic and therapeutic insights. Early diagnosis is essential in order to prevent joint damage and improve the prognosis and quality of life of patients with RA. New classification diagnostic criteria have been proposed to achieve this objective. New therapeutic strategies have proved to be effective, including early and better use of synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDS), mainly methotrexate, and a treat-to-target strategy focusing on achieving remission and with tight control of the disease. In the last decade, the introduction of various biological agents in the therapeutic armamentarium of RA has changed the disease prognosis, although no definite cure is currently possible. In this chapter, we present an overview of recent advances in the epidemiology, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of this severe but treatable disease.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/ctmc/10.2174/15680266113139990092
2013-03-01
2025-07-08
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/content/journals/ctmc/10.2174/15680266113139990092
Loading

  • Article Type:
    Research Article
Keyword(s): diagnostic criteria; epidemiology; management; prognosis; Rheumatoid arthritis
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test