Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment and Monitoring of Outcomes--Where We Are in 2007?

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA ) treatment has witnessed major advances over the last 10 to 20 years. Methotrexate has emerged as the cornerstone of treatment with new biologic agents being used in addition in severe and resistant patients. New drugs being developed with novel modes of action are promising to expand treatment options and help provide better disease control for RA patients. In addition to medications, equally important is aggresive disease activity monitoring using one of the composite scores available in order to match treatments to disease activity. Disease activity score (DAS), DAS28 (with a 28 joint count), clinical disease activity, index (CDAI), simplified disease activity index (SDAI), and routine assessment of patient index data (RAPID) are valuable tools and should be used in routine care to achieve disease control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]