Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory condition that can get worse over time. While there’s no cure for RA, it’s important to treat it to help reduce your symptoms and prevent future joint damage.¹ If you’ve been diagnosed with RA, you may be wondering what your prognosis, or outlook with the condition, will look like. It’s normal to want to know what you can expect when living with this medical condition.

The general outlook for people living with RA has improved over time. Researchers have found new treatments that help lessen symptoms like joint pain, inflammation, and joint damage. Drugs like methotrexate, other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), and biologic agents have helped improve life for people with RA. These improvements have helped people with RA to have less joint damage, disability, and need for surgery.²

Treating RA and controlling levels of inflammation will help improve a person’s life. Common outcomes of RA include chronic (long-term) joint pain, disability, and an increased risk of other medical conditions like cardiovascular disease (heart disease).^2,3

Experts have identified some factors that help determine a person’s prognosis with RA. Read on for information about some of these factors.

1. Disease Activity

Disease activity tells doctors how active your RA is. Doctors use different lab tests to get a clearer picture of your RA. They look at levels like C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) to see how much inflammation and swelling you have.⁴ Doctors measure these levels with blood tests. Another thing they keep track of is how many of your joints are tender or swollen because of RA.⁴

Your doctor may give you a disease activity score. Or they will tell you if you have high or low disease activity.² Your rheumatologist (a doctor who specializes in conditions like RA) will use your disease activity to figure out how severe your condition is. It will also help them make better treatment decisions for you.⁴

2. Bone Erosions

Bone or bony erosions are areas where your bones get damaged by RA. When you have RA for a long time, it can make your joints very swollen and painful. The swelling can harm the cartilage, which protects your bones. When this happens, the resulting bone damage is known as “bone erosions.”³ Doctors may check for bone erosions to see how progressed your RA is.⁴ They look for bone erosions by taking pictures of your bones with tests like an X-ray.

3. Autoantibodies

Having autoantibodies in your blood, also called autoantibody positivity, can affect the outlook for RA.^2,3 Autoantibodies are proteins in the body that mistakenly attack your own tissues.⁵ People with autoimmune diseases like RA may have autoantibodies.³

Most people with RA have a high amount of something called rheumatoid factor (RF) in their blood test.⁶ When a test shows high rheumatoid factor, it helps doctors figure out if a person might have RA.

If you have signs and symptoms of RA and also a positive test such as RF, your doctor may diagnose you with RA.⁶ Rheumatoid factor, especially at high levels, may give an idea of the long-term outcomes of your condition.^2,4 Autoantibody positivity and other factors may affect the ability to achieve better control of RA.³

People with RA might also have other antibodies, such as anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP antibodies, or ACPAs).³ If someone has high levels of rheumatoid factor or anti-CCP antibodies, it could mean they have worse RA.⁴

4. Functional Disability

Functional disability, or having trouble doing everyday things, describes how much RA makes daily tasks hard for someone. It measures whether and how RA makes it tough to take care of yourself, go to work, and move around. Because RA can hurt your joints and change the shape of your hands and feet, it can affect your ability to walk, go up and down stairs, and use your hands.^7,8

When you see your arthritis doctor, they will probably ask you how well you can do things while living with RA. They might ask you if your joint pain and tiredness make it hard for you to bathe, prepare food, and do important chores. The doctor may also give you a form to fill out that helps them understand how RA affects your ability to do things.²

A common goal of RA treatment is to help you move and function better with RA.⁶ Your doctor might look at how easily you can do things to see if your treatment is helping.² If you’re able to do less than before, it can show how much RA is getting in the way of your life.² This info helps your doctor figure out how advanced your RA is and the best way to treat it.²

5. Extra-Articular Disease

Extra-articular disease is when swelling and inflammation from RA move to other parts of the body, not just your joints. Even though RA usually targets the joints, it can also affect your eyes, lungs, heart, blood, nerves, and other organs.⁹ A common sign of this kind of problem with RA is rheumatoid nodules, which are lumps that form under the skin.⁹

Extra-articular RA is connected to more serious health issues with RA.² If you have RA, it’s important to know how it can affect other parts of your body. Then you will know what signs and symptoms to look out for and what to bring up to your rheumatologist.

6. Smoking Status

If you have RA and also smoke cigarettes, your doctor has probably told you it’s a good idea to stop smoking. Smoking cigarettes can make RA worse.² Experts have found that smoking may lead to getting RA and can also make RA treatments not work as well.^3,4 When it comes to aging well with RA, heart disease is a big reason why people with RA might not live as long.³ Smoking can also lead to diseases that harm the heart.³ If you have RA and you smoke, you are more likely to have worse RA and worse overall health.

Other Factors

Other things about you, like your genes, where you live, and how healthy you are, can also affect your RA. Some of these things are:

This article does not talk about all of the things that can predict how your RA might go in the future. If you’re worried or have questions about your RA, you should talk to your doctor. Your RA doctor can help you understand your test results and talk about different ways to treat your RA. Together, you can figure out the best plan to take care of your RA.

GL-DA-2400556 © UCB Biopharma SRL, 2025. All rights reserved.
Date of preparation: January 2025