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Rheumatoid Arthritis

Two drugs are better than one in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. A combination therapy of two commonly prescribed drugs has been shown to improve patients' symptoms and increases the chance for remission.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a crippling disease that affects about 2.1 million Americans. A recent study reported by the Associated Press found that a combination of methotrexate (meth-oh-trex-ate) and Enbrel (en-brell) is more effective than either of the treatments used alone. Dr. Mark Francis, associate professor and chief of rheumatology at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield explains the findings of the study.

SOUND BITE: " . . . essentially a 50 percent improvement, that the people who took the combination therapy, approximately 69 percent of people had a 50 percent or more improvement compared to either a 43 or 48 percent took either agent by itself, so there was a significant increase in the proportion of people who responded to the therapy."

Rheumatoid arthritis causes the joints to become inflamed as if there is an infection, but no infection can be found. Symptoms generally begin between the ages of 20 and 50 years. It is two to three times more common in women than men. Dr. Francis says causes of the disease are not known.

SOUND BITE: ". . . There are certain genetic predispositions that people can have for it, but what we have found has not been strong so if you have a family member with rheumatoid arthritis, your risk for having the disease may increase from 3 to 5 percent, compared to 1 percent in the general population. And there is somethings that we do not test for. We know people who have a a molecule on their cell surfaces called LADHR4, more likely to get rheumatoid arthritis . . ."

Dr. Francis advises people who have rheumatoid arthritis to stay physically active, but pace themselves with rests between the activity. Individuals who think they may have rheumatoid arthritis should see their primary care physician for evaluation and treatment.