Rheumatoid Arthritis Evolution and complications

Rheumatoid Arthritis

    * Introduction
    * Signs and symptoms
    * Causes and Risk Factors
    * Evolution and complications
    * Diagnosis
    * Treatment

Evolution and complications
In most cases, the disease is insidious installed progressively within a few weeks or months. However, it happens suddenly or your symptoms would come to settle in the form of "put" (a few days or weeks), interspersed with periods of remission that can vary from several weeks to several years.
At about 25% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis which dates back at least three months, the illness resolves in a definitive, or at least, for a very long time. The reasons for this remissions are not always known. Sometimes a viral infection or administration of drugs can cause a flare of arthritis alone.
Since its onset, the presence of certain antibodies in the blood (such as rheumatoid factor) shows that rheumatoid arthritis was chronically installed.
When not properly treated, the disease can lead to loss of joint mobility. Thus, simple movements such as twisting a handle or grasping an object becomes difficult. In severe cases, the disease becomes debilitating, and the patient is immobilized in a wheelchair.
Joint deformities often occur in time (fingers "swan neck" or "hammer")
Rheumatoid Arthritis reduces life expectancy by 3-10 years, because chronic inflammation increases the risk of cardiovascular disorders and infections. Other causes of death are bleeding and gastrointestinal drugs.
At least 10% of patients have a severe disability, despite treatment. Women have a worse diagnosis, as well as patients with subcutaneous nodules, age at onset, more than 20 joint inflammation, high rheumatoid factor and those who continue to smoke.