It is a autoimmune disease which mainly affects the joints and usually present as joint pain.
What is an autoimmune disease?
An autoimmune disease is one in which person’s own immunity acts against its own cells. In Rheumatoid Arthritis it is misdirected towards joints. If remains untreated leads to joint damage.
What leads to development of Rheumatoid Arthritis?
No definite cause can be pointed out but usually a combination of environmental and generic factors work. Body’s cell recognizes own protein as foreign and attacks. Old age, smoking etc increases the risk.
What are the common symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Most common symptom is joint pain but in early phase it may only present as stiffness of hands mainly joints of finger later swelling become obvious and pain increases. Sometimes presentation is acute.
Is RA factor positivity is must for diagnosis?
Most of autoimmune disease are diagnosed on basis of clinical history along with doctor findings, blood tests. A positive RA factor increases the chances of Rheumatoid Arthritis but is not must for the diagnosis.
What is the long term outcome?
Rheumatoid Arthritis is a slowly progressive disease and if not treated properly it usually leads to joint damage which after a certain time becomes irreversible and leads to work disability.
What is remission?
Remission is a stage when patient disease is totally under control with almost no complaints of signs. If remission is achieved then disease is told to be inactive. Achieving remission and time to remission is unpredictable.
Does it runs in family?
If any first relative is having Rheumatoid Arthritis it increases the chances of developing Rheumatoid Arthritis. Around 10% of patients has family incidence.
Dr. Mitul Kotecha, Rheumatologiest in Gujarat has been practicing Rheumatology since last 8 years. If you are looking for a Rheumatologist in Ahmedabad, visit us.
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