The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7203 p861-867
22 June 2002

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Treat rheumatoid arthritis early

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) within the first three months of symptom onset show greater symptom improvement and less bone erosion than those beginning treatment later, an Austrian study of 40 patients shows.

Patients treated early showed an improvement of 2.8±1.5 units on a disease activity score after three months' DMARD therapy, compared with 1.7±1.2 units in the later group (P<0.05).

In addition, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20 per cent improvement criteria were fulfilled by 65 per cent of the early treatment group compared with only 20 per cent of the late treatment group (P<0.05).