Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Historical and Biopsychosocial Perspective

While today we celebrate the advances in clinical science and in therapeutics, the enigmatic nature of RA still gives way to conceptualisation disparity. Indeed, despite some significant gains in the areas of immunopathology and genetics, Landré Beauvais' first clinical description of rheumatoid arthritis in 1800 encompasses most of what we know about this disease today. Where no single factor can provide a satisfactory explanation of a disorder in question, the biopsychosocial approach helps to position the multiple layers of existing knowledge in relation to it. Laboratory studies of inflammation and genetics provide the scientific basis of mainstream treatments, although the speciality still lacks good clinical and laboratory markers for making prognosis in each individual case.