Recap: The Value of Achieving Remission in Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases

The meeting was hosted by ASOPAN, the Red Panamericana de Asociaciones de Pacientes Reumaticos, bringing together patient advocates and health care professionals from across the region to highlight the benefits for patients, caregivers and communities when policymakers prioritise remission efforts.

What is Remission?

Remission is best characterised as the absence of disease signs and symptoms. For patients with rheumatoid arthritis, for example, abating symptoms of joint pain, swelling, and tenderness can drastically improve their quality of life.

Remission can be temporary or permanent. While it is not possible for all patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, it should be the primary goal during treatment.

What are the Benefits of Achieving Remission?

Reduced hospitalisations, reduced symptoms and lower annual costs are primary benefits for patients. For individuals who achieve remission, they not only enjoy an improved quality of life but also ease the burden of prolonged hospital stays and costly medical bills. Additionally, there is an economic benefit: for example, when patients are no longer burdened by inflammatory arthritis, they may continue to be active in the workforce.

What are the Barriers to Achieving Remission?

Patients often face inflammatory conditions alone, forced to navigate through conflicting advice and deprioritisation in the health care system. There is also a shortage of rheumatologists in the field, and primary care providers often lack the tools needed to recognise early disease symptoms. This leads to gaps in diagnosis, intervention and care.

Take Action

The Global Alliance for Patient Access has put together the best available evidence to galvanize healthcare systems to develop and prioritise policies that pursue remission, achieve a better quality of life for patients and deliver economic benefits to wider society.

Take a look at our evidence glossary here, and join GAfPA in raising awareness of the value of remission for inflammatory rheumatic diseases.

EN ESPAÑOL