One of the most common forms of arthritis is on the rise among women in the US, according to a study. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota say rheumatoid arthritis cases rose 2.5% between 1995 and 2007, after 40 years of decline, but fell among men in the same 12-year period, Rheumatoid arthritis affects around 350,000 people in the UK. The condition is a form of arthritis which happens when the body’s immune system attacks joints. This causes pain and swelling, which can lead to problems with mobility.
Rheumatoid arthritis
This rise in RA follows a 4-decade period of decline and study authors speculate environmental factors such as cigarette smoking, vitamin D deficiency, and lower dose synthetic estrogens in oral contraceptives may be the source of the increase. Details of the study which includes more than 50 years of RA epidemiology data appear in the June issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.
Between 1 and 2 million Americans suffer the effects of RA, a chronic inflammatory disease that targets joints and which contributes to work-related disability, increased morbidity, and shortened survival. Up to one-half of all RA patients become unable to work within 10-20 years of follow-up and those with the disease have a 60% to 70% higher mortality risk than those in the general population. Furthermore, studies show that RA treatments alone account for $9 billion in excess health care costs with direct and indirect costs expected to exceed $39 billion annually.
- Similar posts
- Statins lower Rheumatoid Arthritis risk (41.6%)
- Rheumatoid arthritis gene found (28.3%)
- Ginger as a pain killer? (26.5%)
- Rheumatoid arthritis and COPD (26.5%)
- Is aspirin the new wonder drug? (26.5%)
- Shortage of vitamin D and Parkinsons disease (5.3%)
- Rickets returns to the UK (5.3%)
One Response to “Rheumatoid arthritis in women on the rise”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
June 7th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
A cure for rheumatoid arthritis is a step nearer after scientists found an antibody which treats the cause of the pain rather than just the symptoms.
In a finding which offers hope to millions in severe pain, tests have shown that anti-CD4 antibodies attack the white blood cells that cause the debilitating disease without affecting other cells.
Researchers from the University of Lisbon in Portugal say the discovery is an improvement on existing treatments which do not target the source of pain, but merely mask its symptoms.
Tests in mice with arthritis have already shown positive results and there are plans to develop a drug for humans according to the journal PLoS.
Currently there is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis which affects more than 60million, or 1 per cent of the world’s population.
Dr Luis Graca said: ‘The new treatment is remarkable because it specifically stops the abnormal immunological response behind RA without touching the rest of the immune system, and a short treatment has long-lasting effects suggesting that it might even cure the disease.
‘In contrast, all therapies available for arthritis work by shutting down large parts of the immune system – compromising the patients’ capacity to fight other diseases.’
In the latest study, Dr Graca and colleagues found that an antibody being used to help transplant patients accept new organs had a benefit for arthritis.
The antibody reacts exactly on the subsets of white blood cells – the CD4 cells which are at the core of the immune response in arthritis.
The researchers also used a recently-discovered breed of mice called SGK that suffers from chronic arthritis like humans, which they have based their tests on.
Dr Graca said: ‘SGK mice treated with the anti-CD4 antibodies at the same time that arthritis was induced showed no symptoms of disease.