New Research
Below are selected summaries of research we have presented to the medical community. You can always find all of the NDB’s latest and past research on our website, www.arthritis-research.org. Click on the “Latest Research” link. The website has the research in Powerpoint or Adobe Acrobat files. If you see a title that interests you but you can’t open the file, let us know and we’ll send you a plain text version.
Nearly half of people with RA have difficulty affording care
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) not only causes bodily pain, it also takes a nasty bite out of peoples’ pocketbooks, especially with new and expensive treatments. In a recent NDB study, 32.3 percent of participants reported having moderate difficulty paying for medical care, and 8.2 percent reported great difficulty. The remaining people said they were able to pay the bills without much problem.
Of persons reporting moderate or great difficulty, 37.3 percent did not buy drugs and 7.1 percent skipped surgery because of costs.
The people reporting difficulty earned less money, had less household income, and had high rates of work disability compared to those who paid their medical costs without much problem. They also had more other illnesses (such as heart or lung problems), and decreased functional ability.
The research suggests that the more severe a person’s RA is, the more likely he or she will have a reduced ability to pay for medical care. It is important for policy makers, doctors and insurance companies to know that getting required medications and treatment can be an important problem.
The study, authored by Dr. Roxabella Torres, Dr. Fred Wolfe and Kaleb Michaud, studied 8,062 people with RA from the NDB.
Anemia and RA
Even though persons with RA get frequent blood tests, there have been only a handful of small studies that have looked at anemia in those people. These studies showed that between 30 and 60 percent of persons with RA have mild anemia.
Anemia is a lower than normal number of red blood cells in the blood, measured by a decrease in the amount of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the red pigment in red blood cells that transports oxygen. Severe anemia can cause problems for people.
We looked at about 2,000 NDB participants with RA who were also patients in Dr.Wolfe’s clinic and compared them to people without RA or other inflammatory rheumatic diseases.We found that anemia occurs in 31.5 percent of those with RA, which is three times the rate of anemia in the general population. Anemia is the result of RA inflammation, and it can contribute to fatigue and not feeling well. In most instances, however, the degree of anemia was slight
NDB analyst Kaleb Michaud discusses research in the NDB booth at the 69th Annual Scientific Meeting of the ACR (American College of Rheumatology) in San Diego. The NDB launched a new project, “Lupus in the Community.”
Are people sticking with the new RA medications?
The length of time a person stays on a medication is one way of judging how effective that medication is in treating a chronic disease. People stay on a treatment when it seems to be as good as or better than other available treatments. But other factors, such as cost, insurance and the severity of the disease can also play a part. With this in mind, the NDB looked at participants taking any of three newer treatments, Enbrel (etanercept), Remicade (infliximab) and Arava (leflunomide). Half of patients taking Enbrel or Remicade continue taking those medications beyond 3.5 to 4 years. For Arava, half continue past 2 years. Generally, people with more severe symptoms when they started taking the medications and those with more severe symptoms while they were taking them were more likely to switch to another treatment.