Volume 30, Issue 3, September 2019
Sign in to download the Issue in PDF format.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects ~1% of the population worldwide, associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Biologic agents were introduced 20 years ago in Greece, and the management of the disease has paralleled the European experience with early adoption of the EULAR recommendations and the Treat-to-Target-strategy in the local guidelines. Local guidelines are regularly updated to incorporate changes in the treatment algorithms. Following the financial crisis, these were ultimately incorporated into the mandatory electronic prescription therapeutic protocols.
During the last 20 years, several publications from the country have captured important aspects of the disease from its epidemiology to the clinical use of biologics and management of comorbidities.1-4 In this communication, we review the management of RA and its evolution over time in Greece, discussing the major achievements and the unmet needs of the disease in an effort to put this into a perspective. We conclude that introduction of biologic therapy has revolutionized the treatment of difficult to treat RA in-spite of the multiple unmet needs. While striving for even better outcomes, we cannot lose sight of the major impact of biologic therapies on the lives of patients with RA.
https://doi.org/10.31138/mjr.30.3.141