RESEARCH - RA is milder in the new millennium

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Ann Rheum Dis. 2008 Jan 24 [Epub ahead of print]

Rheumatoid arthritis is milder in the new millennium: Health status in

RA patients 1994-2004.

Uhlig T, Heiberg T, Mowinckel P, Kvien TK.

Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Norway.

OBJECTIVES: During the last decades major advances have occurred in

the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and

improvements in the burden of the disease have been suggested. We

examined whether there was a secular change towards less severe

disease from 1994 to 2004 among patient within the representative

setting of the Oslo Rheumatoid Arthritis Register (ORAR). METHODS: All

living patients in the ORAR received a postal questionnaire in 1994,

1996, 2001, and 2004, including the Modified Health Assessment

Questionnaire (MHAQ), SF-36, Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales2

(AIMS2), and visual analogue scales for patient global assessment of

disease severity, pain and fatigue. A mixed model approach was used

for longitudinal analysis adjusting for sex, age, co-morbidity, and

for disease duration and DMARD if indicated. RESULTS: The numbers of

respondents between 20 and 79 years of age in 1994, 1996, 2001, and

2004 were 931, 1025, 829, and 914 patients with similar demographic

characteristics (mean age in 1994 60.6 years, mean disease duration

12.6 years, 78% females). Health status in the RA population was

consistently improved in all dimensions of health, and this

improvement was statistically significant for the physical dimension,

global health and pain over the 10-year period until 2004. Both year

of examination and years of disease onset had effect on measures of

longitudinal health status outcome.

CONCLUSIONS: Health status in RA improved from 1994 to 2004, probably

due to access to better and more aggressive therapies.

PMID: 18218667

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=182186\

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