Acting on rheumatoid arthritis
By Wendy Barnaby
People with inflamed joints should seek medical help quickly to be able to benefit from recent improvements in diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Speaking at the Festival of Science, Dr Karim Raza argued that doctors should do more to make people aware that symptoms such as inflammation of the joints, morning stiffness and pain in finger and toe joints can develop into a serious disease.
"If we intervene within the first three months after the appearance of symptoms, we can in a large proportion of patients dramatically slow the disease down and, in some cases, halt it," said Dr Raza from Birmingham University.
"There is a suggestion that, if we intervene aggressively, we might be able to switch off the disease."
"Our hope is to increase the proportion of patients for whom this is possible, to identify who they are and to find out which drugs they will respond to."
Benefits of early diagnosis
During the first three months, Dr Raza and his colleagues can accurately predict a large proportion of those patients who will go on to develop the disease.
Early blood tests can reveal specific markers for it. Doctors are also beginning to use ultrasound to image the inflammation and guide probes for taking biopsies of inflamed tissue. Dr Raza hopes that the sort of early diagnosis and treatment that breast cancer patients now enjoy can be developed for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
This will be costly, but a report this year from the National Audit Office said that there would be an overall saving with earlier treatment, because more patients would be able to keep working longer. At the moment, one-quarter to one-fifth of patients stop working within the first five years of a diagnosis. The disease affects one in one hundred people. On average, they die 10 years earlier than people without it.
Waiting times
Many people don’t realise that their symptoms might herald the onset of the disease, said Raza. Neither did they realise the need for early diagnosis.
A survey of patients in Birmingham found that most people had never heard of rheumatoid arthritis. Most of the delay in diagnosis is caused by the patients themselves. They regard the symptoms as normal aches and pains which they can deal with by taking paracetamol or something similar, without wasting their GP’s time.
On top of this initial delay comes more waiting for the GP’s decision to refer them to a consultant, and then another wait to see the consultant.
"The hospital community must get through to the public that early diagnosis is important", said Dr Raza.
People with inflamed joints should seek medical help quickly to be able to benefit from recent improvements in diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Speaking at the Festival of Science, Dr Karim Raza argued that doctors should do more to make people aware that symptoms such as inflammation of the joints, morning stiffness and pain in finger and toe joints can develop into a serious disease.
"If we intervene within the first three months after the appearance of symptoms, we can in a large proportion of patients dramatically slow the disease down and, in some cases, halt it," said Dr Raza from Birmingham University.
"There is a suggestion that, if we intervene aggressively, we might be able to switch off the disease."
"Our hope is to increase the proportion of patients for whom this is possible, to identify who they are and to find out which drugs they will respond to."
Benefits of early diagnosis
During the first three months, Dr Raza and his colleagues can accurately predict a large proportion of those patients who will go on to develop the disease.
Early blood tests can reveal specific markers for it. Doctors are also beginning to use ultrasound to image the inflammation and guide probes for taking biopsies of inflamed tissue. Dr Raza hopes that the sort of early diagnosis and treatment that breast cancer patients now enjoy can be developed for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
This will be costly, but a report this year from the National Audit Office said that there would be an overall saving with earlier treatment, because more patients would be able to keep working longer. At the moment, one-quarter to one-fifth of patients stop working within the first five years of a diagnosis. The disease affects one in one hundred people. On average, they die 10 years earlier than people without it.
Waiting times
Many people don’t realise that their symptoms might herald the onset of the disease, said Raza. Neither did they realise the need for early diagnosis.
A survey of patients in Birmingham found that most people had never heard of rheumatoid arthritis. Most of the delay in diagnosis is caused by the patients themselves. They regard the symptoms as normal aches and pains which they can deal with by taking paracetamol or something similar, without wasting their GP’s time.
On top of this initial delay comes more waiting for the GP’s decision to refer them to a consultant, and then another wait to see the consultant.
"The hospital community must get through to the public that early diagnosis is important", said Dr Raza.
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