Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) affects 0.24–1% of the global population and is twice as common in women as in men. The lifetime risk of developing RA is 3.6% and 1.7% in women and men respectively. Though several poor long-term outcomes can potentially occur, these can be reduced to some degree with the use of more effective treatment strategies and drug therapies.
American College of Rheumatology’s recent guidelines have new inclusions and address the treatment of RA with: Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), including conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs), biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs), and targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs); The use of glucocorticoids The use of DMARDs in certain high-risk populations (i.e., those with liver disease, heart failure, lymphoproliferative disorders, previous serious infections, and nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease). Table 1.…
