Public release date: 29-Oct-2007

Life expectancy for RA patients has not improved over the past 4 decades, finds Mayo Clinic study, indicating urgent need for improved intervention strategies

Researchers compared the survival rates of patients diagnosed with RA in 5 time periods: 1955-1964, 1965-1974, 1975-1984, 1985-1994, and 1995-2000 using Cox regression models, adjusting for age and sex. In the 5 time periods, there was no significant difference in survival rates for RA subjects—which also means no significant gains in longevity.

“We found no evidence indicating that RA subjects experienced improvements in survival over the last 4-5 decades” states the study’s leading author, Dr. Sherine Gabriel. “In fact, RA subjects did not even experience the same improvements in survival as their peers without arthritis, resulting in a worsening of the relative mortality in more recent years, and a widening of the mortality gap between RA subjects and the general population throughout time.”