Progress of research on delaying bone destruction of rheumatoid arthritis by combining traditional Chinese and Western medicine

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease with bone destruction as the core pathology, which belongs to the category of “impediment disease” in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and its etiology and pathogenesis are still not completely clear. It is characterized by high prevalence, high disability rate, and high recurrence rate, which seriously affects human health and has become a worldwide research hot spot. At present, although modern medicine has made significant progress in the treatment of RA bone destruction, such as biologics and small‐molecule targeted drugs, it still faces problems such as poor efficacy, drug resistance, drug side effects, and long‐term treatment costs. It has been found that the use of TCM decoction and acupuncture in combination with Western medicine for the treatment of RA bone destruction can enhance the efficacy of the treatment while reducing the adverse effects of Western medicine. However, no one has systematically reviewed the current research status on the combination of Chinese and Western medicine in the treatment of RA bone destruction. Therefore, this paper reviews the research progress of combined Chinese and Western medicine in the treatment of RA bone destruction, aiming to promote the application of combined Chinese and Western medicine in clinical practice and provide new treatment ideas for the clinical treatment of RA bone destruction.