Learn about rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic inflammatory disorder that affects your joints and other body systems. Find out how it starts, what causes it, and how to prevent and treat it.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease that mainly affects joints and other tissues. Discover the signs, symptoms, causes, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, and complications of RA from the CDC website.
The synovial cavity is normally only a “potential” space with 1-2ml of highly viscous fluid, primarily due to hyaluronic acid, with few cells. In RA, large collections of fluid (“effusions”) occur, which are in effect filtrates of plasma and therefore exudative (i.e., high protein content). The synovial fluid in RA is highly inflammatory. Learn more about this aspect of RA from the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease where the immune system attacks the joints, beginning with the lining of joints. Understand the symptoms, causes, and how it differs from osteoarthritis, another common type of arthritis, through information provided by the Mayo Clinic.
As a systemic autoimmune disease, RA is characterized by inflammatory arthritis and extra-articular involvement. It is a chronic disorder caused, in many cases, by the interaction between genes and environmental factors, including tobacco. This primarily involves synovial joints and typically starts in small peripheral joints, usually symmetrically. More details can be found on the NCBI Bookshelf.
Smoking increases a person’s risk of rheumatoid arthritis and makes the disease worse. Obesity also heightens the risk of developing RA. However, there are many effective methods for decreasing pain and inflammation and slowing down the disease process. Early diagnosis and effective treatment are very important. Learn more from the Cleveland Clinic.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) causes joint inflammation and pain. It happens when the immune system doesn’t work properly and attacks the lining of the joints, called the synovium. The disease commonly affects the hands, knees, or ankles, and usually the same joint on both sides of the body, such as both hands or both knees. Further information is available on the Arthritis Foundation.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term (chronic) disease that causes inflammation of the joints. The inflammation can be so severe that it affects how the joints and other parts of the body look and function. In the hand, RA may cause deformities in the joints of the fingers, making moving your hands difficult. Additional insights can be found at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
