What constitutes a remission from rheumatoid arthritis?

Not everyone agrees on the answer to this question. By definition remission means “a decrease or disappearance of symptoms.” That covers a lot of territory.

Some doctors say remission from RA occurs when the patient can say ‘Yes’ to five or more of the following for at least two months in a row:

Morning stiffness doesn’t last more than 15 minutes

Patient has no fatigue

There’s no joint pain

There’s no swelling in the joints or tendons

Sed rate on lab values is less than 30 mm/h in women and less than 20 mm/h for men

Most patients would agree that pain free joints that aren’t swollen is remission enough. Doctors know that even if the symptoms are gone there can still be active disease causing joint damage. And since RA is a systemic disease affecting many other organs and systems in the body, remission must be seen there as well.

Many of today’s drug treatments do seem to put patients in a state of remission. The hope for the future is a cure.