Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers need more support, experts say

Medics, employers, insurers and society should better treat sufferers of what can be a crippling disease, experts say.

DUBAI // The chronic disease rheumatoid arthritis must be tackled better by doctors and UAE society as a whole, experts have said ahead of World Arthritis Day next month.

There are about 70,000 people living with the debilitating autoimmune disease in the Emirates, 9,000 of whom are Emirati, they said.

While the disease is genetic and incurable, early detection could make the difference between a life of disability and a chance at leading a relatively normal, pain-free existence.

“It scores as one of the most debilitating diseases and increases risk of premature death,” said Mohamed Samir, medical director of Roche pharmaceuticals in the UAE.

It is vital to “raise awareness of the disease and the importance of treating it as early as possible”, he said.

Dr Waleed Al Shehhi, consultant rheumatologist at Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital and Al Biraa Arthritis Centre, said the population and the medical community must be better

educated about the condition.

“There is a lack of awareness about rheumatologists,” he said. “As such patients don’t know who to go to and so often people are seeing the wrong specialists, who are not referring the patients to us.”

The disease attacks the nervous system and symptoms include deformation of the hands and feet, fever and chronic fatigue. It generally affects people aged between 18 and 48, with two to four times the number of women affected than men.

“It impacts their work, family and everything around them,” said Dr Al Shehhi. At work, sufferers were “discriminated against”, he said, either not hired, fired or not promoted.

“Of all my patients, only one of them in Dubai is in a senior position.” This was because of a “lack of understanding” about the condition, he said.

Health authorities and insurance providers also needed to do more to support sufferers, he said. “Health providers need education and insurance providers need to recognise it’s not the patient’s fault to be born with RA,” he said.