Depending on the medications being taken, regular blood or urine tests should be done to monitor both progress and negative side effects. Frequently, the disease can be controlled by using a combination of treatments. Other times surgery may be needed, and on occasion a significant amount of relief is not found. The course of the disease varies. People with high titers of rheumatoid factor or subcutaneous nodules seem to have more severe cases of the disease.
Remission is most likely to occur in the first year.
After having the disease for 10 to 15 years, about 20 percent of people will have had remission. After 15 to 20 years, only 10 percent of victims are invalids. The average life expectancy may be shortened by 3 to 7 years with this disease. Factors contributing to death may be infection, gastrointestinal bleeding , and drug side effects. It can lead to skin ulcerations, bleeding intestinal ulcers and neuropathies.