Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory diseases that can affect any part of the body. It is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system that protects the body from infection attacks healthy tissues. The synovial tissue is the primary target of the RA. Rheumatoid Arthritis typically affects small joints like in hands and feet and occasionally large joints like knee, hip and shoulder.
- The synovial membrane of a joint is the site of initial inflammatory process in RA
- As the disease progresses, it damages the cartilage and further causes a permanent damage to the join.
SIGN & SYMPTOMS:
- Tender, warm, swollen joints
- Joint stiffness that is usually worse in the mornings and after inactivity
- Fatigue, fever and loss of appetite
Early rheumatoid arthritis tends to affect the smaller joints first — particularly the joints that attach with fingers to the hands and toes to ther feet.
As the disease progresses, symptoms often spread to the wrists, knees, ankles, elbows, hips and shoulders. In most cases, symptoms occur in the same joints on both sides of your body.
About 40% of people who have rheumatoid arthritis also experience signs and symptoms that don’t involve the joints. Areas that may be affected include:
- Skin
- Eyes
- Lungs
- Heart
- Kidneys
- Salivary glands
- Nerve tissue
- Bone marrow
- Blood vessels
Rheumatoid arthritis signs and symptoms may vary in severity and may even come and go. Periods of increased disease activity, called flares, alternate with periods of relative remission — when the swelling and pain fade or disappear. Over time, rheumatoid arthritis can cause joints to deform and shift out of place.
CAUSES:
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease. Normally, the immune system of your body helps protect our body from infection and disease. In rheumatoid arthritis, immune system attacks healthy tissue in our joints. It can also cause medical problems with heart, lungs, nerves, eyes and skin.
Science don’t know what starts this process, although a genetic component appears likely. While your genes don’t actually cause rheumatoid arthritis, they can make more likely to react to environmental factors — such as infection with certain viruses and bacteria — that may trigger the disease.
RISK FACTOR:
Factors that may increase the risk of rheumatoid arthritis are:
- Sex: Women are more likely than men to develop rheumatoid arthritis.
- Rheumatoid arthritis can occur at any age, but it most commonly begins in middle age.
- Family history.If a member of your family has rheumatoid arthritis, you may have an increased risk of the disease.
- Cigarette smoking increases the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, particularly if you have a genetic predisposition for developing the disease. Smoking also appears to be associated with greater disease severity.
- Excess weight.People who are overweight appear to be at a somewhat higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.