What Is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

09 Jun 2007 10:35 AM

Rheumatoid arthritis is less common than osteoarthritis -- only about one percent of the adult population in the United States suffers from the disease. Many different joints can be affected; rheumatoid arthritis can even affect the blood, lungs, and heart.

How is rheumatoid arthritis different from osteoarthritis? Osteoarthritis is caused by a deterioration of the cartilage that cushions your joints; rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammation of the joint lining known as the synovium. The affected joints may lose shape, affecting movement. The disease lasts a long time, and may flare up (periods of active symptoms) and go into remission (periods of few symptoms).

Symptoms generally include:

• Joint tenderness, warmth, and swelling. Both sides of the body are usually affected at the same time.
• Pain and stiffness that last for more than an hour after a long rest -- like when you first get up in the morning.
• Inflammation in the wrist and finger joints. Other joints -- in the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, and feet -- may also be affected.
• Fatigue, fever, and a general feeling of not feeling well. This is known as malaise.
• Symptoms that last for an extended period of time.
• Symptoms that are not just in the joints -- you may see inflammation in your tear ducts, salivary glands, heart and lung linings, and in the lungs themselves.
• About a quarter of people with rheumatoid arthritis develop tissue lumps known as rheumatoid nodules. These lumps form under the skin and are usually not painful.

Approximately 2.1 million Americans suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. The disease is up to three times more common in women than in men, and is most often seen in people between the ages of twenty and fifty. Some young children can develop a form of rheumatoid arthritis known as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease -- the body's immune system attacks health joint tissue. Experts aren't sure about the exact cause of RA, but do know that genetic factors can play a role. Environmental factors may also play a part; rheumatoid arthritis can be triggered by an infection in people who have a genetic tendency for the disease. Your doctor will perform a physical examination and possibly order blood tests or x-rays to determine whether or not you have rheumatoid arthritis.

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Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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