Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder. It is caused by the dysfunction of the immune system, which wrongly attack the normal joints. This would cause inflammation of joints, resulting in redness, swelling, pain, warmth and stiffness. In severe case, there may be joint deformity. Besides joints, the disease may affect other body parts, e.g. eyes, skin, heart, cerebral vessels etc. Development of rheumatoid arthritis is related to genetic, hormonal and environmental factors.
To distinguish rheumatoid arthritis from other kinds of arthritis, patients with rheumatoid arthritis may have ‘early morning stiffness’, usually more than 30 minutes. In early stage, small joints like finger, wrist or toe joints are mostly affected. In later stage, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee and ankle joints may be involved. The joints involvement is usually symmetrical, which occurs on both left and right side.
Combination of clinical condition, blood test and imaging result is required for diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Clinically, position and numbers of joints with symptoms more than 6 weeks should be assessed. For blood test, rheumatoid factor (RF), Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibody, C reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) are usually checked.
Physiotherapy may be useful to relief symptoms. Anti-inflammatory medication, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDS), steroid, target therapy could be used to control the disease.
* Please consult doctors for further details.