Abstract Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions cause an enormous global burden, and this is dramatically increasing in developing countries, particularly due to rapidly ageing populations and increasing obesity. Many of the global…
Abstract Frailty in older people is associated with a vulnerability to adverse events. While ageing is associated with a loss of physiological reserves, identifying those with the syndrome of frailty…
Abstract Disability is strongly associated with musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis, low back pain and other soft tissue and joint disorders. The burden of these conditions may become exponentially high…
Abstract This chapter summarises the global and regional prevalence, disability (Years Lived with Disability (YLDs)) and overall burden (Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)) and costs for the common musculoskeletal disorders…
Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has long been recognised as a highly heterogeneous disease of immune dysregulation. Despite an ever-growing appreciation of the role of circulating autoantibodies in the development of…
Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains a formidable clinical challenge. This is despite remarkable recent advances in our understanding of pathogenesis and the introduction of a variety of novel agents, particularly…
Abstract Angiogenesis plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Therefore, targeting neovascularization in RA may hold great therapeutic potential. Several mediating factors are…
Abstract There has been a marked improvement in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but most patients do not achieve disease remission. Therefore, there is still a need for new…
Abstract Patients with refractory inflammatory arthritis can still respond favourable to autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, this treatment has a high morbidity and even 5% mortality. Mesenchymal stromal cells…
Abstract The association of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with a number of genetic risk loci is well established; however, only part of the risk to develop the disease is based on…
