THURSDAY, Jan. 28, 2010 (Health.com) — A simple blood test may allow doctors to identify a debilitating form of arthritis years before any symptoms appear, which may help to stop the disease in its tracks, new research suggests.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which affects an estimated 1.3 million Americans, is an autoimmune disease that attacks the joints, causing inflammation, pain, and swelling. Early diagnosis and treatment are key to preventing long-term joint damage, but the warning signs of rheumatoid arthritis are often easily confused with those of other diseases and conditions.
Now, a new study reports that markers of inflammation that can be detected in the bloodstream rise long before symptoms of the disease. This finding holds out the possibility that doctors can one day treat rheumatoid arthritis before it starts to take a toll on the patient. Treating rheumatoid arthritis early and aggressively with a combination of drugs provides the best odds of preventing joint damage.
The study “moves the whole field along,” says rheumatologist Lionel Ivashkiv, MD, an associate chief scientific officer at the Hospital for Special Surgery, in New York City. “In the future, in combination with other tests and risk factors—such as genetics, smoking, and family history—we can maybe predict who is at high risk for developing RA.”
In the new study, which appears in the February issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, researchers in Sweden analyzed the blood samples of 342 people, 86 of whom went on to develop rheumatoid arthritis up to five years after giving blood. Overall, the people who ultimately developed rheumatoid arthritis had higher levels of proteins and other substances involved in inflammation in their blood compared to those who didn’t develop the disease.
Rheumatoid arthritis drugs target some of the inflammatory markers that were elevated, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF).
When all 30 of the markers that the researchers measured are taken into account, the test would correctly predict 86% of the time the individuals who would ultimately develop rheumatoid arthritis, according to the study.
