ABU DHABI // Arthritis need not be a life sentence, especially if caught early, sufferers will be told today as part of an awareness campaign.
Emirates Arthritis Foundation (EAF) said it was important to let people living with the illness know that they were not alone.
"We help to support those patients who suffer with the disease here," said Katrina Thornley, the director of operations and patient support at the EAF. "It's important that people know there is someone out there listening."
A programme scheduled for today, to mark World Arthritis Day, will include seminars on how to spot symptoms of the disease and quick methods of pain relief that sufferers can teach themselves.
Mohammed Al Hashimi, the chairman of the EAF, said residents, especially Emiratis, did not recognise that early treatment of the disease was crucial.
"They don't believe it's a sickness that can lead to disability," said Mr Al Hashimi, an Emirati who received a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis 11 years ago.
Spreading awareness, he said, was a big challenge. "I've even been talking to my son and people just underestimate the disease. They think it will be a bit difficult to get up - they think that's it."
With media attention often focused on cancer and diabetes, people tended to disregard the implications of living with swollen and painful joints, he said.
If left undiagnosed, rheumatoid arthritis can lead to disability and deformity.
Arthritis, the name given to anything that affects the joints, is the collective term for more than 100 different conditions. Three of the most common are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
Most commonly the result of an immune system disorder, other factors could be involved, said Dr Humeira Badsha, the vice chairwoman of the EAF. But, she added, some people were just predisposed to developing the disease.
"You can have arthritis even if no one in your family has it. A gene can be passed on for generations without being manifested."
The disease affects about 20 per cent of the population in the UAE. And while osteoarthritis was linked to obesity and diabetes, both of which were prevalent in the country, the number did not vary greatly from the worldwide average, Dr Badsha said.
A study she carried out in 2005 found that the disease was being diagnosed in residents 14 months after they experienced symptoms, which included joint pain and swelling. A similar study carried out last year revealed that the delay had dropped to seven months.
But any delay in diagnosis could lead to more severe problems, she said.
Another problem also being tackled by the EAF was the lack of medical insurance for some expensive medications, Mrs Thornley said.
"We're very lucky now because of a new medication … that came out in 2000. It can't cure the disease -unfortunately there is no cure yet - but it puts it into remission. It tells the arthritis to back off."
But the medication, while available in the country, costs Dh70,000 a year and most insurance companies do not cover it.
Supporting patients at an early stage and preventing severe disability would save insurers money in the long run, Mrs Thornley said.
"Ten years down the line, these insurers won't have to pay for hip replacements, or knee replacements."
But Dr Badsha stressed not all treatments were expensive.
"Usually we use disease modifying medicines, so the first line of treatments are medicines which are quite inexpensive. They cost less than Dh100 a month."
Should those medicines fail to have a positive effect, then the patient may have to consider alternative, and perhaps pricier, treatment, she added.
Event organisers also hoped to dispel popular misconceptions about arthritis.
"People think it's an old people's disease, that it is infectious, and that there's nothing that can be done about it," Mrs Thornley said.
"They say that I should get bed rest. [I say], if you don't use it, you lose it."
@ For more on HEALTH, visit thenational.ae/topics