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Rheumatoid arthritis is often more painful for women than it is for men, even though the visible symptoms are the same, Swedish researchers said.
For reasons unknown, rheumatoid arthritis is roughly three times more common amongst women than men. Moreover, several studies also suggest that rheumatoid arthritis eventually impairs the life quality of female suffers more than it does that of male sufferers.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, said why rheumatoid arthritis impairment is worse in women is unclear, however, the researchers have shown that men who undergo standard therapy for rheumatism respond significantly better than women having the same treatment.
"Purely objectively, the drug had a somewhat better effect on the men than on the women," study leader Ronald van Vollenhoven said in a statement. "But the greatest difference was of a subjective nature. The women in the study felt sicker even when their joints showed the same improvements."
Women and men have been treated on equal terms from the perspective of the doctors but it's possible that no one has been aware of the fact that the pain can be worse for women than for men, Vollenhoven said.
