Ayurvedic Concepts Used to Develop Novel Disease Activity Indicator for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Researchers have
conducted a study to explore the correlation between Ayurvedic concepts and
rheumatoid arthritis (RA), aiming to enhance knowledge and improve care for RA
patients. The study focused on the concept of amavata in Ayurveda, which
closely resembles RA in clinical manifestations. The objective was to develop
and validate an ama score, based on constitutional features described in
Ayurvedic literature, as a disease activity indicator for RA.
The study consisted of
two parts: the development and textual validation of the ama assessment
instrument (AAI), followed by its clinical testing. The AAI comprised ten
items, each assigned a range of scores to align with patient observations. The
score obtained through AAI was statistically and clinically tested on a group
of 79 randomly selected RA/amavata patients for validity and reliability. The
correlation between the AAI score, Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS-28), and
erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was assessed.
The results showed a
slight correlation between the AAI score and ESR, as well as between the AAI
score and DAS-28. However, the AAI score emerged as an independent disease
status marker, capturing changes in the study population more accurately over
time compared to DAS-28 or ESR. Significant differences in ama scores were
observed when comparing different follow-up periods, indicating the AAI’s
ability to reflect disease activity related to constitutional and
gastrointestinal aspects in patients. Additionally, a decrease in ama score
corresponded to reported improvements by patients, suggesting that changes in
ama score can reflect changes in disease status and the impact of the disease on
the patient.