Rheumatoid Arthritis or (RA) is an autoimmune disease that attacks the joints and connective tissue. The result is inflammation that produces permanent damage in the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic syndrome that tends to be progressive and destructive as compared to Osteoarthritis or (OA), which is more of an age related disease caused by “wear and tear” of the joints. In contrast to (OA), rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by inflammation mostly of the joints, but is a general body disease.
The type of joint that is chronically affected is the synovial joint. The bones that are at a synovial joint are covered by articular cartilage; which reduces friction and absorbs shock. The space between the articulating bones is called the synovial cavity, which is surrounded by an articular capsule. The outer layer of the capsule is called the fibrous capsule and consists of dense irregular connective tissue. The inner layer of the capsule is lined with the synovial membrane, which is composed of areolar connective tissue with elastic fibers and may also contain adipose tissue. In a healthy joint the synovial membrane produces synovial fluid. The fluid not only reduces friction and lubricates the joint, but it also supplies nutrients and removes debris, wastes, and microbes.
Rheumatoid arthritis affects twice as many women as it does men. It can develop in child hood, but in most cases it develops between the ages of twenty-five and fifty. Rheumatoid arthritis itself may not be inherited, but what can be inherited are the genes that may make someone more likely to develop the disease including those genes that control the immune system.
Normally the immune system protects your body against foreign proteins like bacteria, fungi, or viruses and it does this by attacking them and producing antibodies. In Rheumatoid arthritis the immune system loses it’s ability to tell the difference between these antigens and the bodies normal cells. The body begins to attack the normal cells by using its plasma cells to produce antibodies called serum rheumatoid factors (RF). The chemical messengers called cytokines control the inflammatory process. One of the key cytokines is called Tumor Necrosis Factor or TNF; which is part of the normal inflammatory process. People with rheumatoid arthritis have been foun...
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...neumonitis, bone marrow suppression, and with long term use even malignancy.
Treatment also consists of rest and a nutritious diet. Some supplements such as fish or plant oils can be taken to partially relief some of
Cavezza 7 the symptoms because they can decrease the production of prostaglandins. Exercise and physiotherapy can restore muscle mass and help preserve the range of motion. This is recommended after the inflammation subsides. Another alternative if or when drugs fail is arthroscopic or surgical synovectomy, which temporarily relieves inflammation. Prosthetic replacement of joints is possible, but this greatly reduces the functionality.
Rheumatoid arthritis affects everyone differently. In most patients, joint symptoms develop gradually over several years. In some people, rheumatoid arthritis may progress rapidly. Other people may have rheumatoid arthritis for a limited period of time and then enter a period of remission. More than two million people in the United States alone have rheumatoid arthritis and with research and development of new drugs and gene therapy there may be a clearer picture of a patients future and quality of life.
Rheumatoid Arthritis: A common form of inflammatory arthritis. It is a chronic disease that causes inflammation of joints, pain and loss of function in the joints, as well as inflammation to other body organs. It is an autoimmune condition of unknown origin, where the antibodies are formed against the synovium8.
Ding T, Ledingham J, Luqmani R, Westlake S, Hyrich K, Lunt M, Kiely P, Bukhari M, Abernethy R, Bosworth A, Others. BSR and BHPR rheumatoid arthritis guidelines on safety of anti-TNF therapies.Rheumatology. 2010; 49 (11): 2217--2219.
As mentioned earlier, immune system attack on the joints is one of the major psoriatic arthritis causes. It causes overproduction of the skin cells resulting to reddening and inflammation at both the joints and the skin. There is no clear reason why the immune system would turn against the joints. However, research on the disease shows that it is genetic since it has been found to affect those people who have a family history of the condition. Some other causes may be environmental factors such as viral or bacterial infection and trauma.
Arthritis can also affect other parts of a person, such as the hearts, eyes, lungs, kidneys, and skin
Arthritis affects people of all age groups. More than 100 types of arthritis are known. Among these osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis having the highest incidence. One of the major causes of chronic debilitation in industrialized nations is Osteoarthritis which results from damage to the joints, which may be due to trauma, infection, or age-related wear. Rheumatoid arthritis is encountered less frequently than osteoarthritis and is estimated to affect around one per cent of the world’s population. Amongst patients of Rheumatoid arthritis, women are three times more likely to be affected by this condition than men. This condition is caused by an inflammatory process where the body starts attacking itself. Rheumatoid arthritis also affects several joints, with inflammation sometimes seen in and around the lungs, the heart, the eyes and the skin. The most commonly reported complaint by arthritis patients is pain. The pain might be from the joint itself and be a result of inflammation, damage from the disease, or through daily wear and tear. Muscle pain is also common and is caused by having to force movements against stiff and painful joints. Although range of movement in the affected joint may be limited and uncomfortable, physical exercise has been shown to benefit those with arthritis. Physical therapy has been shown to significantly improve function, decrease pain in the long term and delay the need for surgery in advanced cases. The majority of arthritis cases occur among theelderly, however the disease can occur in children as well. Over 70% of the population that get affected by arthritis in North America are over the age of 65 (4). The disease occurs more commonly in females than males in all races, age groups, and ethn...
Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are two symptoms of a single disease caused by an overactive immune system attacking the skin and joints of the affected individual. The “t-cells” or white blood cells that fight infection within your body are also the cause of psoriasis. Psoriasis is characterized by red patches of inflamed skin with a build-up of silvery-white colored dead skin or scale. Psoriatic arthritis is similar to rheumatoid arthritis as it is an inflammation of the joints. This inflammation can cause pain, stiffness, and even disfigurement. The same white blood cells attacking the skin are also attacking the cartilage in the joints. However, what is causing the white blood cells to attack the skin and joints is still unclear.
Arthritis is very common and yet it is not well understood. Arthritis is not a single disease, but instead is an informal way of referring to more than 100 different types of joint pain and/or related conditions (“What is Osteoarthritis?”). Sometimes called degenerative joint disease or degenerative arthritis, osteoarthritis is the most common chronic condition of the joints, affecting approximately 27 million Americans (“What is Osteoarthritis?”). For a long time osteoarthritis was believed to be caused by the “wear and tear” of joints over time, however, scientists now view it to be a disease of the joint (“What
Rheumatoid arthritis affects around 400,000 individuals within the UK, it is the most relentless chronic form of arthritis, and for adults it is the second most common form in patients (1). “RA is more prevalent among women than men, and usually develops in the fourth to fifth decades of life” (A). Rheumatoid arthritis is severe as it is a form of autoimmune disease, this is where the body’s immune system attacks and damages working tissue, due to the failure to recognise the difference between foreign cell and normal cells. For example it damages the synovial membrane surrounding the knee, and bone erosion begins. This damage to the working tissue triggers an inflammatory response causing fluid to build around the knee (2). However it can happen in any joint, this is why it’s such a large problem as you simply can’t inhibit the effects of the immune system, as it would leave you extremely vulnerable to more life threatening diseases. If effective treatment isn’t applied it could be disabling to patients, the inflammation causes pain, stiffness, muscle ache, rheumatoid nodules (lumps of tissue) and tiredness (3).
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory and an autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s tissue (Rheumatoid arthritis, 2017). This disease affects the entire body, which is called a systemic (means entire body) disease. Arthritis is derived from the word part arthr-, which means “joint,” and -itis, which means “inflammation,” so altogether it means “inflammation of the joints.” It creates inflammation that causes the tissue that lines the inside of joints (synovium) to thicken. About 1.5 million people in the U.S. are affected. It affects all races, but it affects three times as many women than men (What is Rheumatoid Arthritis, n.d.). Overtime, rheumatoid arthritis causes painful swelling that can potentially result in bone erosion or joint deformity, which leads up to physical disabilities. RA can affect more than just your joints, but can spread to body systems, skin, eyes, lungs, heart, blood vessels, e.t.c (Rheumatoid arthritis, 2017).
Cartilage is a hard, slippery tissue that allows our frictionless joint motion. Through Osteoarthritis the surface of the cartilage gets rough or is so worn down, that no cartilage exists anymore at all. The pain of Osteoarthritis occurs, when bone rubs against bone. Osteoarthritis can be separated into two types: Primary and Secondary. The cause for Primary Osteoarthritis is not known. In the majority of the Osteoarthritis cases is this so, that the doctor cannot determine the cause for the disorder. But there are many different causes for the Secondary Osteoarthritis like a disease or other condition. Those diseases or conditions can include an infection, a joint abnormality that occurred at birth, an injury, a metabolic disorder, for example that the patient has too much iron in the body, known as hemochromatosis, or when the patient has too much copper in the liver, also known as Wilson disease. It also could be a disorder that has damaged the joint cartilage; those disorders could include rheumatoid arthritis or
Arthritis is one of the most prevalent diseases, and is the leading cause of disability in the U.S (What is Arthritis, n.d). Moreover, the susceptibility to arthritis enhances with age, approximately half the population that reaches 65 years of age has arthritis (What is Arthritis, n.d). Essentially, arthritis refers to hindrance to the joint such as pain, swelling and reduced range of motion (What is Arthritis, n.d). There are over 100 types of arthritis, one to be noted for this paper is rheumatoid arthritis (What is Arthritis, n.d). This form of arthritis is an autoimmune disease, where the joints are targeted by the body’s immune system, resulting in inflammation (What is Arthritis, n.d). Consequently, due to its frequency
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that attacks the joints and connective tissue. Autoimmune diseases are illnesses that occur when the bodys tissue is mistakenly attacked by its own immune system. The immunes system is primarly organized to look for infections and destroy them, patients with rheumatoid arthritis have antibodies in their blood which target their own tissue which leads to inflammation. RA is basically a chronic syndrome that is characterized by inflammation of the peripheral joints, but it may also involve the lungs, the heart, the blood vessels and eyes.
Bibliography: Arthritis Foundation, Understanding Arthritis (1986); Kelley, William N., et al., eds., Textbook of Rheumatology, 2d ed., (1985); McCarty, Daniel F., ed., Arthritis and Allied Conditions, 11th ed. (1988); Moll, J. M. H., Rheumatology in Clinical Practice (1987).
It is still unknown what the cause of Rheumatoid Arthritis is but there are some theories that have not been proven. The oldest theory states that viruses and bacteria are the cause of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Now with all the research being done, scientists believe that Rheumatoid Arthritis is hereditary. Specific genes have been found to make people more likely to get Rheumatoid Arthritis. Some scientists also think that some environmental factors and infections might cause the immune system to attack. Contributing factors are smoking and being exposed to silica metal. So although the exact causes are unknown, the result is that the immune system is ready to make the joins and tissues inflamed by activating immune cells.
Arthritis occurs when the body incorrectly identifies its own tissue as foreign matter and attacks it. Arthritis includes a set of more than eighty autoimmune diseases. Arthritis attacks connective tissues and joints. It causes stiffness, pain, inflammation, and swelling of the joints. Some kinds are crippling, but rarely leads to death. There are many different kinds of arthritis, the main ones being Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis; others include gout and ankylosing spodylitis.