New strategies could help women with rheumatoid arthritis who want to conceive

Women with rheumatoid arthritis who are trying to conceive a child could benefit from improved treatment strategies, says research in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
Many women with rheumatoid arthritis take more than 12 months to conceive; during this time their arthritis often cannot be treated optimally, so it is very important to keep it to a minimum.
Now a Dutch study that looked at data from 245 women has found that time to conceive was longer than 12 months in 42% of women. Longer durations were independently associated with:
• More advanced age
• Being a first-time mother
• Greater disease activity levels
• Use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and prednisone before conceiving. In those who had used prednisone, the impact was shown to be dose-dependent: it took longer to conceive if the daily intake was more than 7.5mg.
It is hoped that the findings can be used to inform women who might be looking to conceive in the future.
“Preconception treatment strategies should aim at maximum suppression of disease activity, taking account of possible negative effects of NSAIDs use and higher prednisone doses,” concludes the research team.