MATERA – Madonna delle Grazie Hospital Auditorium – 5.30 pm
SIR has promoted the publication of a book dedicated to women's experience of an often underestimated disease. 10 female politicians interview 10 patients, 10 rheumatologists illustrate 10 emblematic clinical cases
Ten women tell ten women about their disease, ten interviews collected in a book entitled "Rheumatoid Arthritis: female singular". This is the path chosen by the SIR (Italian Society of Rheumatology) to draw attention to this often underestimated disease, which mainly affects the female population. In fact it is estimated that three patients out of four are women, and that in the industrialized world, including Italy, therefore, up to 1% of the population suffers from it. The interviews were collected by exponents from the political world who have always been attentive both to the peculiarities of the female condition and to the protection of health: Livia Turco, Maura Cossutta, Mariapia Garavaglia, Elisabetta Gardini, Lilly Gruber, Tiziana Maiolo, Giovanna Melandri, Cristiana Muscardini, Alessandra Mussolini. Obviously the scientific aspect could not be missing, and so each story is accompanied by the clinical report of the rheumatologist, and often of the rheumatologist, who treats the woman. And this too is an unprecedented look at rheumatic disease, which shows how difficult and demanding is the path that leads to diagnosis and, from this, to the development of therapy, often different from one person to another.
SIR has promoted the publication of a book dedicated to women's experience of an often underestimated disease. 10 female politicians interview 10 patients, 10 rheumatologists illustrate 10 emblematic clinical cases
Ten women tell ten women about their disease, ten interviews collected in a book entitled "Rheumatoid Arthritis: female singular". This is the path chosen by the SIR (Italian Society of Rheumatology) to draw attention to this often underestimated disease, which mainly affects the female population. In fact it is estimated that three patients out of four are women, and that in the industrialized world, including Italy, therefore, up to 1% of the population suffers from it. The interviews were collected by exponents from the political world who have always been attentive both to the peculiarities of the female condition and to the protection of health: Livia Turco, Maura Cossutta, Mariapia Garavaglia, Elisabetta Gardini, Lilly Gruber, Tiziana Maiolo, Giovanna Melandri, Cristiana Muscardini, Alessandra Mussolini. Obviously the scientific aspect could not be missing, and so each story is accompanied by the clinical report of the rheumatologist, and often of the rheumatologist, who treats the woman. And this too is an unprecedented look at rheumatic disease, which shows how difficult and demanding is the path that leads to diagnosis and, from this, to the development of therapy, often different from one person to another.
The book therefore has multiple purposes, explains Dr. Ignazio Olivieri, vice president of SIR, director of the Rheumatology Department of the Basilicata Region and one of the co-authors of the volume. The first is to point out that rheumatoid arthritis, which mainly affects women, has very high social costs, because a woman today almost always combines the role of mother with that of worker, and she is also responsible for caring for those who are ill or experiencing a temporary or permanent disability, starting with the elderly in the household. But it's not just about this, the book promoted by SIR also intends to draw attention to more directly medical aspects. Even today, in fact, the diagnosis is delayed: usually the rheumatologist specialist is reached two years after the disorder is in progress, in the case of rheumatoid arthritis, but with even much greater delays, up to 10 years, for other rheumatic diseases . Today this aspect is even more important, because the rheumatologist has therapies that make it possible to aim not so much at reducing symptoms or slowing down the progression of the disease but at remission. Remission does not mean healing in the strict sense, but it does mean making the disease no longer active for longer and longer periods. In particular, this leap in the quality of care has been determined by the advent of biological drugs.
Ultimately, as summarized by Professor Stefano Bombardieri, president of SIR, this book was created to explain what are the dramatic effects of the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis on women's lives and, on the other hand, to show what enormous benefits can come from a therapy appropriate. Through the direct story of the patients, expertly collected by other women, the consequences of rheumatoid arthritis are rendered with a force that would not be possible in a scientific treatment.
Ultimately, as summarized by Professor Stefano Bombardieri, president of SIR, this book was created to explain what are the dramatic effects of the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis on women's lives and, on the other hand, to show what enormous benefits can come from a therapy appropriate. Through the direct story of the patients, expertly collected by other women, the consequences of rheumatoid arthritis are rendered with a force that would not be possible in a scientific treatment.
The book will be presented on 12 October 2006 during the meeting that the Minister of Health Livia Tur
