Affiliations 

  • 1 Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • 2 Department of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore City, Singapore
  • 3 Department of Medicine, University of Otago Wellington, Wellington South, New Zealand
  • 4 Section of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, and Section of Clinical Skills Training, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
  • 5 Narayana Hospital, Jaipur, India
  • 6 Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, St. Mary's Hospital, Seoul, South Korea
  • 7 Immuno-Rheumatology Center, St Luke's International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
  • 8 Department of Rheumatology, Fortis Flt. Lt Rajan Dhall Hospital, New Delhi, India
  • 9 Department of Rheumatology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
  • 10 St. Luke's Medical Center, Quezon City, Philippines
  • 11 Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
  • 12 Department of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan
  • 13 Department of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  • 14 Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore City, Singapore
  • 15 Rheumatology Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Brawijaya University, Saiful Anwar General Hospital, Malang, Indonesia
  • 16 Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology Division, Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
  • 17 Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • 18 Department of Allergy and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
  • 19 Subang Jaya Medical Centre, Selangor, Malaysia
Int J Rheum Dis, 2015 Sep;18(7):685-713.
PMID: 26334449 DOI: 10.1111/1756-185X.12754

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects approximately 1% of the world's population. There are a wide number of guidelines and recommendations available to support the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis; however, the evidence used for these guidelines is predominantly based on studies in Caucasian subjects and may not be relevant for rheumatoid arthritis patients in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, the Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology established a Steering Committee in 2013 to address this issue.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.