Figure 5From: The need for prognosticators in rheumatoid arthritis. Biological and clinical markers: where are we now?Effect of disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy. Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) will interfere with the disease process at any time point, and will lead to a deflection of the slope of progression from its natural course. The ideal situation would be to diagnose and treat rheumatoid arthritis early; at best, before damage has occurred.Back to article page