[Medical and economic aspects of rheumatoid arthritis]

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disabling disease that induces substantial costs in terms of healthcare resources (direct costs) and lost productivity (indirect costs). The main cost drivers used to be disability and hospitalization. Recently, however, the cost of new and expensive therapies has exceeded that of hospitalization. These effective treatments have lowered RA-related use of healthcare resources, especially totaljoint replacement, as well as sick leave. In contrast, they have not yet been shown to reduce the number of patients who become disabled, and their cost-effectiveness ratio thus tends to be unfavorable.