Authors: Muhammad Furqan, Dr. FNU Bhawana, Mohammad Owais, Saoud Javed, Nazish Marvi
Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune and systemic disease in which the synovium of the joints chronically becomes inflamed causing progressive joint destruction, pain and functional disability. Treatment: While disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), biologic drugs and surgical technique have helped to manage treatment more readily, there are still important decisions to be made regarding therapeutic options, safety and peri-operatively administered drugs. The purpose of the present systematic review with meta-analysis is the analysis of the current clinical guidelines and comparative evidence on the effectiveness, safety, functional results and perioperative management of medical and surgical management of RA. A systematic literature search will be undertaken on the papers published for the past 5 years using the PubMed/MEDLINE database, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, Scopus and Web of Science database for papers that are suitable for inclusion. The included studies will be evaluated on pre-defined eligibility criteria that will also involve randomized controlled trials and comparative observational studies, as well as relevant evidence based clinical practice guidelines. Appropriate and validated methodology tools will be used to assess the methodological quality and risk of bias. When sufficient methodological and clinical comparability is present, quantitative meta analysis will be carried out otherwise findings will be narratively synthesized.
Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis; systematic review; meta-analysis; disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; biologic therapies; surgical management; perioperative care; treatment safety.