Abstract
Peloidotherapy and aromatherapy have been used for years in the treatment of numerous inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The exact mechanism of their action in RA is unclear. The goal of our research is to determine the effect of peloidotherapy and aromatherapy on inflammation parameters in RA patients. Our study included 20 patients of both sexes, with confirmed diagnosis of RA, older than 18 years. Patients were treated during 28 days with combination of peloidotherapy and aromatherapy. Serum samples for detection of levels of inflammation parameters were taken at two intervals: before the start of therapy and at the end of treatment. The results of our study show that there were no significant changes in the parameters of the complete blood count. Nevertheless, a statistically significant decrease in the serum concentration of two markers of inflammation—interleukin-6 (IL-6) and nitrogen-oxide (NO)—was detected. Correlation analyses results say that there is a synchronized drop in the serum concentrations of CRP and the sedimentation rate, and the serum concentrations of fibrinogen and IL-6 are in the same relationship as well as serum levels of IL-6 and NO. Bearing in mind the importance of IL-6 and NO in the pathogenesis of inflammation in RA, we conclude that the application of our therapeutic protocol can be a significant add-on treatment to classic immunomodulators. Due to the small number of study participants, the lack of a control group, and the short follow-up time of patients, additional research is needed.
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Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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This work was financed by the Ministry of Science of Montenegro.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Snezana Pantovic, Milovan Roganovic, Vjeroslava Slavic, and Jelena Zvizdojevic. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Snezana Pantovic and Milovan Roganovic, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Pantovic, S.M., Roganovic, M.B., Slavic, V.G. et al. Laboratory features of effects of peloidotherapy and aromatherapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Int J Biometeorol 68, 855–860 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-024-02630-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-024-02630-8