Pharmacological pain management in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a narrative literature review.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pain is a major challenge for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with many people suffering chronic pain. Current RA management guidelines focus on assessing and reducing disease activity using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Consequently, pain care is often suboptimal, with growing evidence that analgesics are widely prescribed to patients with RA, despite potential toxicities and limited evidence for efficacy. Our review provides an overview of pharmacological treatments for pain in patients with RA, summarising their efficacy and use.

Findings

Thirteen systematic reviews of drug efficacy for pain in patients with RA were included in this review. These showed moderate- to high-quality evidence from clinical trials in more contemporary time

SUBMITTER: Cox N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11780779 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature