In the first international 'map of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spanning Europe and beyond, significant national differences in RA severity can be directly traced to national economics, most notably health expenditure, as exposed today by data from the QUEST-RA Study presented at EULAR 2007, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, Barcelona, Spain.

Findings reported at EULAR 2007, the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR) in Barcelona, Spain, reveal a treatment disparity between female and male patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Data from a study at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, show that women receive anti-TNFs (very effective but expensive modern medications against this disease) at a higher perceived level of disease activity and when they are reporting more severe pain than their male counterparts.

New data demonstrating the safety and efficacy of Enbrel® (etanercept) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients over the long-term were presented today at the EULAR (European League Against Rheumatism) congress (1). Over 2,000 patients receiving this biologic treatment for up to nine years, saw improvements in disability whilst safety was also sustained over the long-term.

Peter K. Gregersen, MD, stares at x-rays of hands, searching out the telltale signs of inflamed joints and wrists from his research subjects with rheumatoid arthritis. With these clinical features at his side, he turns to the basic building blocks of life - the human genome - to figure out what makes these people susceptible to the disabling inflammatory condition.

Researchers at the University of Manchester have identified evidence of several new genes behind the chronic inflammatory disease rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which affects 387,000 people in the UK.

In rheumatoid arthritis, a person's own immune system attacks the joints by activating the synovial tissue that lines the body's movable joints, causing inflammation, swelling, pain and eventually erosion of the bone and cartilage and deformation of the joint. It is among the most debilitating forms of arthritis, often making difficult even the simplest of daily activities.

New insights could lead to better vaccines, treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, study suggests