Abstrakt
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a progressive, debilitating disease with serious physical, psychological and economic consequences. RA afflicts about 1% of world population, more than 2.9 million Europeans and over two million patients in the United States.
The clinical course of RA fluctuates and prognosis is unpredictable. Seventy percent of patients with recent onset of RA show evidence of radiographic changes within 3 years.
Fifty percent of RA patients are work-disabled within 10 years of disease onset