Investigating the importance and causes of rheumatoid arthritis and its effective treatments: a review study

Resumen

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is among the mostimportant chronic diseases that can causejoint destruction and disability, especiallyin the adulthood. It is a progressive chronic autoimmuneinflammatory disease with variable clinical symptoms,characterized by mild to severe inflammation of the jointsthat can result in pain, dryness and joint destruction alongwith joint malformations and disability. Besides its physicaleffects, it can also affect one’s mental state and causemental illnesses, such as depression, given its permanentchanges in activity level and lifestyle. Therefore, due to theimportance of this debilitating disease, the present studyaimed to study the causes of RA and its effective treatments.The results showed that the most common causeof RA is genetic-related. However, genetic risk factor isnot fully responsible for the disease and environmentalfactors have been reported to be effective. Althoughthere has been a wide variety of studies on treatment ofRA, no definitive treatments have been reported for thedisease so far. The most commonly used treatment approachesfor this disease are rest and general treatments,pharmacotherapy, hydrocortisone intra-articular injection,physiotherapy, occupational therapy and surgery. Rest issupposed to be effective, especially in the early stages ofthe disease and during the recurrence periods. Overall,the goal of non-pharmacological treatments is to reducepressure on the joint. According to various studies, aspirinand non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (indomethacin,ibuprofen, naproxen, and piroxicam) are the mostcommonly used drugs in the treatment of RA (especiallyin the early stages).