How may quality of life for rheumatoid arthritis patients be enhanced by current and future treatments?

Health-related quality of life is best thought of simply as 'health'. Life quality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is affected, for good or ill, by treatment effects. Health status now is readily and validly measurable, using the Health Assessment Questionnaire or other instruments. Disability and pain are reduced by disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) much more than by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Toxicity considerations vary among individual drugs but are roughly comparable between NSAIDs and DMARDs, mandating DMARD-based treatment strategies. Future therapies must accentuate the positives (reduction in pain and disability) while reducing the negatives (unwanted effects) if the health of RA patients is to be improved.