Are we living longer with RA | Arthritis Information

Just wanted to know if anyone knew if we are living longer with Arthritis, RA etc. From onset to old age. Anyone know if there is a study out there. Just curious.

RA 14years

Dx 1996

Meds. Orencia, Prednisone, Vitamin, C, D Iron.

ttronbn562011-03-09 21:16:00I'm 68 had RA for 29 years, My husband is 78 and has arthritis, but not RA, and we are still around to talk about it. Something else will kills usLadyBug,

The last study was done in 2007 and the results show that altho the population on a whole is living longer, those with rheumatoid arthritis are not keeping up with the whole population. Some time ago, I read an article from RA professionals that explained that study. I can't find it now but know that I posted here at AI. The point that the authors made was that the studies could not take into consideration the deaths of the ra patients that have been on the new drugs because they aren't dead yet. They believed that we are living longer becaust the inflamation is better controlled. I wish I could find it because it would make alot of people feel better. None the less, sorry, but here is the study:

Mortality gap widening between rheumatoid arthritis patients, general population

Last Updated: 2007-10-29 14:11:13 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The decline in mortality rates seen in the US population over the past 4 decades has not occurred among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, despite innovations in rheumatoid arthritis treatment, according to a report in the November issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is known to be associated with excess mortality, the authors explain, but whether survival in RA patients has improved over time remains unclear.

Dr. Sherine E. Gabriel and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota evaluated trends in mortality rates in a population-based group of patients in whom RA was first diagnosed between 1955 and 2000 and who were followed until 2007, as compared with expected mortality rates in the general population of individuals of the same age and sex.

Overall mortality among RA patients was 35% higher than that expected in the general population, the authors report, and excess mortality was more evident among female RA patients (49% excess mortality) than among male RA patients (12%).

Throughout the five time periods examined, the mortality rate remained relatively constant for both female RA patients (2.4 per 100 person-years) and male patients (2.5 per 100 person-years).

In contrast, the mortality rate in the general population declined from 1.0 per 100 person-years in women and 1.2 per 100 person-years in men in 1965, to 0.2 per 100 person-years in women and 0.3 per 100 person-years in men in 2000.

"Our findings indicate that RA patients have not experienced the same improvements in survival as the general population, and therefore the mortality gap between RA patients and individuals without RA has widened," the authors maintain.

"Although the reasons for the widening mortality gap are unclear, cardiovascular deaths constitute at least half of the deaths in patients with RA, and it is possible that the cardiovascular interventions that improved life expectancy in the general population may not have had the same beneficial effects in patients with RA," the researchers speculate.

"There is an urgent need to fully understand the determinants and implications of this phenomenon so that appropriate intervention strategies can be undertaken to reduce the widening mortality gap that increasingly separates RA patients from the rest of the general population," Dr. Gabriel and colleagues conclude.