New Aspects of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) in the Comprehensive Health Checkup System, Ningen Dock

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  Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease. Recently developed drugs and guidelines have improved the working ability and prognosis of RA patients. Survival in RA has been extended, and RA patients have increased opportunity to visit Preventive Health Care Centers to undergo the Comprehensive Health Checkup System, or Ningen Dock. The health problems experienced by patients with RA are characteristically similar to those of the general population without RA. These include frailty, sarcopenia and locomotive syndrome. Basically, cytokines which cause chronic inflammation play important roles in both arthritis and sarcopenia, including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-2 (IL-2). In addition, recent studies have recognized that RA is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, as well as for bone fragility and refracture. Clinical care of these patients therefore includes explanations of exercise and diet, as recognized in the 2022 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) guidelines for exercise, rehabilitation, diet, and additional integrative interventions.