This article (I have only read the abstract, as I don’t have access to the full article right now) seems to say that serious complications of RA can occur when the only indicators are patient reports of pain and reduced functionality – not lab indices!
So this is what is needed: clinical drug trials that use patient reports of pain and functionality AS WELL AS the lab indices. Suppression of CRP, sed rate, RA factor, LE factor, and CCP is not enough. The drug needs to suppress the symptoms (pain, lack of functionality) as well as the lab indices. A patient with reduced or suppressed blood factors who still has the symptoms of pain and lack of functionality should be included in the clinical criteria in the grant-writing for clinical drug trials.
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