Last week a Professor of Rheumatology wrote a letter to Arthritis & Rheumatology declaring his irritation at the use of the term ‘inflammatory arthritis’.

Professor Johannes Nossent  from the University of Western Australia wrote that the “silent incorporation” of the term inflammatory arthritis had left him wondering why journal editors “would allow such incorrect and confusing wording to creep into the literature.”

This in turn made us wonder at the limbic whether Professor Nossent was on his own, or whether there were silent enclaves of rheumatologists across the country thinking the same thing.

So we decided to conduct a straw poll of opinion from several practicing rheumatologists and this is what they told us:

“This distinction has been there as long as I have been in rheumatology and there are features on history and examination that help tell them apart. It is becoming more blurred lately as some arthritic conditions thought to be non-inflammatory like OA now have abundant evidence that they are so perhaps it should be degree of inflammatory arthritis.”

“He is entirely correct in his letter about the inaccurate use of such terminology. I think his main point refers to the tortology as well as the lack of discrimination/ specificity in the descriptor — “itis” means inflammation so there is no need to repeat it. OA also characteristically has inflammation as one of its cardinal features which has led to people not using the term osteoarthrosis any longer. 

There are lots of inaccurate terms used in this space -for example degenerative and wear and tear are commonly used terms for OA but are really inaccurate.  These terms are used so commonly they have become part of common language. Whilst I probably would not have written a letter about it I agree that greater language precision would be helpful”.

“I am not sure what the fuss it.  Inflammatory arthritis is a standard term I don’t have an issue with. It is a way to differentiate a group of joint diseases we see from others which have higher components of mechanical/degenerative issues such as osteoarthritis.We are still a way away from being clever enough to have specific names, such as IL-6 dependent systemic inflammatory, auto-immune arthritis or something along that line.” 

“Storm in a tea-cup used to distinguish from non-inflammatory arthritis or degenerative arthritis – an imprecise term for osteoarthritis which can be mildly inflammatory as well as degenerative. There must be more important issues to discuss!”

 What do you think? Tell us by emailing [email protected]