Rheumatoid Arthritis
Preliminary
Rheumatic disease is a term for a group of diseases with clinical manifestations of chronic pain in the musculoskeletal system, joint stiffness and swelling of tissue around the joints and tendon. Although the disorder primarily occurs in the joints but arthritis can also be of extra-articular tissues.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a progressive autoimmune disease, characterized by inflammation of the joints. This inflammation causes a loss of form and function of joints, causing pain, stiffness and swelling, which leads to the occurrence of damage and permanent loss of joint function. In the more severe cases, RA can affect the eyes, lungs, or blood vessels. RA also shorten life expectancy by attacking the organ systems.
RA is a form of autoimmune disease is most common and affects more than 6 million people worldwide, and is usually found autoantibody one of which is rheumatoid factor (RF).
This disease can affect any joint, but most of the attacks the small joints of the hands and wrists. All people at risk of developing RA is usually middle age between 20-50 years, but women have a 2-4 times higher risk than men, and this risk will be increased according to age, especially at the age of 40 to 50 years.
Definition
Rheumatoid arthritis is a non-bacterial inflammatory disease that is systemic, progressive, chronic, and tends to joints and connective tissue of joints symmetrically. On the other ideas have also said RA is a chronic autoimmune disease with symptoms of pain, stiffness, impaired movement, joint erosion and various other inflammatory symptoms.
