Arthritis is not a single disease. The term “arthritis” covers more than hundred diseases and conditions affecting joints, the surrounding tissues, and other connective tissues.
Arthritis includes:
Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Gout
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Juvenile (children) rheumatoid arthritis
Affecting more than 50 million Americans, is one of the leading causes of disability in the United States. Clearly, arthritis is a problem for many individuals living with any number of forms of the disease, such as gout, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Psoriatic arthritis, etc. With May serving as , there is heightened awareness on the issues surrounding arthritis.
Today, one in five Americans is living with the pain of arthritis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projects that by the year 2030, an estimated 67 million people in the U.S. will be affected by arthritis, up from current estimates of 50 million. Even more alarming is the fact that the prevalence of osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, continues to rise even though it can often be prevented by staying active through enjoyable physical activities such as walking.
But in looking at the bigger picture, arthritis affects a much larger population of people. Consider all the spouses, siblings, children, partners, neighbors, co-workers, friends and other extended family members who all share a part in assisting, helping or simply supporting someone living with arthritis.
There are more than 100 different kinds of arthritis. Most of them involve inflammation. When a patient goes to a rheumatologist to get a diagnosis, there is a process of elimination in order to arrive at the proper diagnosis. This process of elimination is called “differential diagnosis.”
Differential diagnosis can be a difficult undertaking because so many forms of arthritis, particularly inflammatory forms of arthritis look alike. The following is a list of types of inflammatory arthritis that can be seen and must be considered when evaluating a patient with inflammatory symptoms of arthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
RA is an chronic, autoimmune, inflammatory disease, that may affect any joint in the body but preferentially attacks the peripheral joints (fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, and feet. It can also affect non-joint organ systems such as the lung, eye, skin, and cardiovascular system. The onset of RA may be insidious-slow- with nonspecific symptoms, including fatigue, malaise, loss of appetite, low-grade fever, weight loss, and vague aches and pains, or it may have an abrupt onset with inflammation involving multiple joints. The joint symptoms usually occur bilaterally and are symmetric. Damage to joints- called “erosions” can be seen with magnetic resonance imaging early on or by x-ray later in the course of disease. Approximately 80% of patients with RA will have elevated levels of rheumatoid factor (RF) or anti-CCP antibodies.
Psoriatic arthritis is a special type of arthritis that occurs in some patients with psoriasis, a chronic skin condition. It resembles rheumatoid arthritis in its effects, although most people experience a mild form. Symptoms of psoriatic arthritis include both skin disorders and conditions of the joints and can cause symptoms of psoriatic arthritis as well. There is no cure for psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, but there are many treatments available to relieve symptoms. It is a chronic, however, and if left untreated can cause serious health problems.
Symptoms of the most common form of psoriatic arthritis affects the tips of the fingers or toes. However, one in five cases of the disease can affect the spine. The less common form of psoriatic arthritis is called psoriatic arthritis mutilating “the objectives of the joints, causing severe destruction.
Psoriasis is a rough, scaly type of rash that appears most often in the knees, elbows and scalp. The rash consists of red scaly patches or silvery gray on the skin. Psoriatic arthritis occurs in about five to ten percent of the 30 million Americans with psoriasis.
Arthritis is a disease that causes pain and loss of movement of the joints. Joint pain is referred to as arthralgia. Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in people over the age of 55. The causes of arthritis depend on the form of arthritis. Causes include injury (leading to osteoarthritis), abnormal metabolism (such as gout and pseudogout), inheritance, infections, and for unclear reasons (such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus). There are many forms of arthritis .There are about 200 different kinds of arthritis. The most common type is osteoarthritis (or degenerative arthritis), where the cartilage that protects the bones gets worn away. This makes joints stiff, painful and creaky. About 5 million people in the UK have osteoarthritis. OA is a chronic degenerative arthropathy that frequently leads to chronic pain and disability. With the aging of our population, this condition is becoming increasing prevalent and its treatment increasingly financially burdensome.
Arthritis is not a single disease. It encompasses about 100 different conditions, that affect joints and that pose unique problems for diagnosis and treatment.
Arthritis is the general term given to a number of painful and debilitating conditions affecting the joints and bones. It is actually made up of two Greek words: athro – meaning joints; and itis – meaning inflammation. There are over 100 different types of arthritis. Although arthritis is normally associated with people in the “baby boomer” category and older, it can affect people at any age, even children. When this happens to children it is called Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, although it is much less common than Osteoarthritis or Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Common rheumatoid arthritis symptoms include:
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Reactive arthritis is a form of arthritis, or joint inflammation, which occurs as a “reaction” to an infection elsewhere in the body. Besides joint inflammation, reactive arthritis is associated with two other symptoms: redness and inflammation of the eyes (conjunctivitis) and inflammation of the urinary tract (urethritis). These symptoms may occur alone, together, or not at all.
Reactive arthritis is also known as Reiter’s syndrome, and your doctor may refer to it by yet another term, as a seronegative spondyloarthropathy. The seronegative spondyloarthropathies are a group of disorders that can cause inflammation throughout the body, especially in the spine. (Examples of other disorders in this group include psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and the kind of arthritis that sometimes accompanies inflammatory bowel disease.)
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