Genes linked to severity of arthritis

The severity of arthritis may be linked to a sufferer’s genetic make-up, scientists believe.

Genes are not only associated with the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, but may also predict the course of the disease, their study suggests.

The same gene mutations are linked to responsiveness to treatment, the risk of death and severity of the disease, the Manchester University researchers found.

Rheumatoid arthritis occurs when the immune system attacks joints, causing pain and swelling.

It affects 400,000 people in england and Wales, striking three times as many women as men. half of victims cannot work, due to disability, within ten years.

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Anne Barton and her Manchester colleagues looked at more than 6,000 english patients.

They found carriers of certain genetic variations were much likelier to have severe disease and die younger. They also examined different groups to ascertain death rates, severity of disease and response to drugs to treat it, and genetic variations associated with auto-immune diseases.

The study found factors strongly linked with rheumatoid arthritis also affected how acute it was.

new drugs have cut the severity of the disease for most, but not all, sufferers and, in an editorial, the journal says the findings may improve the ability to predict the outcome for some patients and aid their treatment.