The Arthritis Complication You Can’t Afford to Ignore
Living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is no walk in the park.
The constant pain, stiffness, and fatigue can make even the simplest tasks feel like a Herculean effort. But as if that weren’t enough to deal with, new research has uncovered a hidden danger lurking in the joints of RA sufferers—one that could put your very bones at risk.
A groundbreaking study from Denmark has found that—if you have RA and contract a common blood infection called Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia—your chances of developing a serious bone infection skyrocket to nearly double that of someone without RA.
It’s a terrifying prospect, but one that you can’t afford to ignore.
The study, published in the journal Rheumatology (Oxford), looked at a whopping 18,274 patients who had experienced their first episode of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia between 2006 and 2018. Of those, 367 had been diagnosed with RA before contracting the blood infection.
What the researchers found was nothing short of alarming. Within just 90 days of getting the bacteremia, a staggering 23.1 percent of RA patients developed a bone infection, compared to 12.5 percent of those without RA. That’s nearly twice the risk, with an hazard ratio of 1.93.
But the bad news doesn’t stop there. If you’re an RA patient taking tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) to manage your symptoms, your risk of bone infection after bacteremia jumps even higher, with a hazard ratio of 2.27.
And if you have any orthopedic implants, like a joint replacement? You’re looking at a 1.75 times greater risk.
Perhaps most concerning of all is that the mortality rates for RA and non-RA patients who developed bone infections after bacteremia were virtually identical, hovering around 35 percent.
That means that even though RA patients are more likely to get these infections, they’re no more likely to survive them.
So why is this happening? Experts believe that the chronic inflammation caused by RA, combined with the immunosuppressive effects of certain RA medications, may make patients more vulnerable to infections that can spread to the bones.
And once those infections take hold, they can be incredibly difficult to treat, often requiring long courses of antibiotics and even surgery.
The takeaway here is clear: if you have RA, you need to be extra vigilant about protecting yourself from infections, like Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. That means practicing good hygiene, staying up to date on vaccinations, and working closely with your doctor to manage your RA symptoms while minimizing your infection risk.
And if you do contract bacteremia, don’t wait to seek treatment. The sooner you can catch and address any potential bone infections, the better your chances of a full recovery.
To remaining vigilant,
Rachel Mace
Managing Editorial Director, e-Alert
with contributions from the research team
P.S. Forgotten vitamin banishes rheumatoid arthritis pain?
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