Osteoarthritis is as severe as rheumatoid arthritis: evidence over 40 years according to the same measure in each disease.

Osteoarthritis is as severe as rheumatoid arthritis: evidence over 40 years according to the same measure in each disease. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2019 Sep-Oct;37 Suppl 120(5):7-17 Authors: Pincus T, Castrejon I, Yazici Y, Gibson KA, Bergman MJ, Block JA Abstract Osteoarthritis (OA) may be associated with substantial work disability, morbidity, costs, and increased mortality rates, often similar to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), documented in many published reports over the last 4 decades. However, OA generally has been viewed as less severe than RA. This discrepancy may be explained in part by:a) RA may have been considerably more severe in the past, prior to effective therapies.b) most older individuals have radiographic joint damage, which often is not associated with clinical symptoms.c) RA is associated with abnormal laboratory tests, which are regarded as conveying greater significance than symptoms of pain and disability according to a "biomedical model," the dominant paradigm of modern medicine.d) Most reports of OA and RA have emphasised differences between the 2 diseases even beyond laboratory abnormalities in pathogenesis, physical findings, and imaging.e) Even pain and functional disability seen in both diseases are assessed using different patient self-report questionnaires, a WOMAC (Western Ontario McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index) in OA, and HAQ (health assessment questionnaire) in RA.An identical measure is required...
Source: Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology - Category: Rheumatology Tags: Clin Exp Rheumatol Source Type: research