• Rheumatoid arthritis is otherwise known as RA.
• RA is the most common type of inflammatory arthritis.
• The patients with RA experience pain, stiffness and swelling of the joints mostly in the early morning.
• They have difficulty in making fisting of hand in the early morning after getting up from the bed.

• Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease.
• Autoimmune disease means own immune system got dysregulated and attacks different part of the body.
• In RA, the own immune system of human body mistakenly attacks its own joints, resulting in inflammation (latin word, “inflammare”-light on fire) of the joints.
• The exact reason for the disease is not completely yet understood and due to multifactorial such as gene, environment, infection and sometime dietary factors.
• Sometimes the dental infection and smoking cigarette has contributing factors for the RA.

First of all-Rheumatoid arthritis is not a rare disease; rather it is one of the most common inflammatory arthritis.

• Around 1 per cent population of the world are affected by rheumatoid arthritis.
• People between the age 25-50 are likely to get affected by rheumatoid arthritis.
• The disease is most common in women, with a ratio 3:1. For every 3 women affected by RA, you have one man who experiences the same.
• There is a blind belief that RA runs through families which is not just correct.
• RA is not hereditary, but genetic and environmental factors play a role in RA.

• Pain, swelling and stiffness of the small joints of hand mostly in the early morning
• Difficulty in making fist of the hand, brushing of the tooth, combing of the hair, opening of the water bottle , walking and getting up from the chair.
• Can affect any joints of the body starting from temperomandibular joint, cervical spine, shoulder, wrist, small joints of hand, knee, ankle and small joints of the foot.
• Sometime it will lead to deformity of the joint
• Apart from joint it affects lung because of which patients complain of dry cough and breathlessness on walking.
• It also involves eye, blood vessel and heart etc.
• Quitting of smoking helps in improvement of the disease

• RA should not be diagnosed only based upon the blood test.
• There should be patient’s history of joint stiffness and swelling mostly in the early morning.
• Sometime special blood tests are needed to prognostication and classifying as seropositive or seronegative rheumatoid arhtirits depending upon Rheumatoid factor (RF) or Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide Antibody (anti-CCP) positivity or negativity respectively
• Commonly blood tests are needed for management of RA :
  • Complete Blood Count (CBC)
  • C-Reactive Protein (CRP)
  • Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR)
  • Liver Function test (LFT)
  • Kidney Function test
  • Rheumatoid Factor (RF)
  • Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide Antibody (anti-CCP)

• Radiologic test:
  • X Ray-Chest,Hand
  • Sometime USG or MRI of the wrist joint for early detection of RA
  

• A woman’s pregnancy is not affected by rheumatoid arthritis, but women should avoid taking some medications (used for treatment of RA) during pregnancy.
• Women should consult doctors regarding the types of medication they should take during pregnancy for controlling Rheumatoid Arthritis.