What is it?
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic
autoimmune disease that causes stiffness, pain, loss of mobility, inflammation, and erosion (deterioration) in the joints. It usually affects multiple joints symmetrically, the hand and wrists most commonly, but also elbows, neck, shoulders, hips, knees, and feet. Other symptoms include fatigue, fever, the development of nodules under the skin, especially at the elbows, and a sense of not feeling well (malaise). Patients with RA may develop
anemia, systemic complications, and may have other co-existing autoimmune disorders and symptoms such as the dry eyes and mouth associated with
Sjögren’s syndrome.
Rheumatoid arthritis can affect anyone at any age, but it usually develops between the ages of 30 and 50. More than 75% of those affected are women. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 2 million people in the United States have RA. Left untreated, RA can shorten a person’s lifespan and can, within a few years, leave about 30 to 40% of those affected too disabled to work. The course of RA and its prognosis are variable. It may develop and progress slowly or rapidly. It may go into remission in some patients and in a few it may go away. Pregnant women with RA frequently have decreased symptoms during their pregnancy and worsened symptoms after birth.
RA is different from osteoarthritis, in which joint tissue wears down from sports or injuries. RA usually affects joints in a balanced way—if one knee is affected, the other knee also is affected. The disease may be partly inherited through genes, but other factors are probably at work, including some kind of a trigger for the gene, perhaps bacteria or viruses. The disease is not contagious, however. Some scientists also think that changes in certain hormones may promote RA in people with certain genes who have been exposed to the triggering agent.
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