Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder where your immune system attacks your own tissues mistakenly. It is the chronic inflammatory disorder which affects more than one joint. In some patient, rheumatoid arthritis affects various system like skin, eyes, heart, blood vessels, bone marrow, nerves and lungs. Rheumatoid arthritis mostly affects joints on both sides of the body, such as both hands, both wrists or both knees. Chronic inflammation in Rheumatoid arthritis causes, permanent destruction of the joints along with deformities in joints, leading to physical disabilities.
Symptoms and signs of Rheumatoid arthritis:
- Joint pain like joints of the hands, feet, knees etc.
- Redness of joints
- Swelling of joints
- Stiffness if joints
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Rheumatoid nodule
- Loss of joint function
- Anemia
- Polyarthritis
Causes of Rheumatoid arthritis:
It is an autoimmune disorder, where immune system affects the lining surrounding the synovial membrane, which surrounds your joints. This leads to inflammation along with thickness of synovial membrane, which destroys the cartilage and bone of the joint. Experts doesn’t know the cause of Rheumatoid arthritis, but genetic factors play important role, as person become more susceptible to environmental factors like bacteria, viruses that may triggers the disease.
Risk factors of Rheumatoid Arthritis :
- Common age for Rheumatoid arthritis is between40-60, but it can occur at any age.
- Women are more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than men
- Cigarette smoking increases the risk of developing Rheumatoid arthritis.
- People who are obese are more likely to develop Rheumatoid arthritis
- Certain environmental exposure like silica, asbestos may become trigger factors of Rheumatoid arthritis
- If there is a family history of Rheumatoid arthritis then there are higher chance of developing RA in person
