As it progresses, it can spread to other joints and often has a severe impact on daily tasks and the quality of life. If arthritis is present in a weight-bearing joint, walking, sitting up straight and gripping everyday objects may be difficult. In severe cases, the joints can become twisted and gnarled by the progression of the disease, resulting in a complete inability to do once-easy tasks.
Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in the United States. The term means a specific inflammation of the joints when used by medical professionals, but in general, the term covers more than 100 diseases and conditions that affect joints, tissues surrounding the joints and other connective tissues.
More than 52 million adults have been diagnosed with arthritis. Older adults are more prone to arthritis than the younger, with close to 50 percent of people older than age 65 having some symptoms of the affliction.
Women of any age have slightly more cases of arthritis than men, with 26 percent of women having symptoms versus 19 percent of men. When measuring by ethnicity, non-Hispanic whites and blacks and American Indian/Alaska natives suffer most from arthritis, all roughly in the early to mid-20 percent range. Hispanics have slightly more than 15 percent of their population afflicted with arthritis symptoms, while Asian/Pacific Islanders have about 10 percent of the population with arthritis symptoms.
Common Arthritis Types
There are three general types of arthritis that afflict people most often.
1) Osteoarthritis – This condition results from the wear and tear of overusing certain joints. This can be a function of age and activity or can be the result, obesity stressing the joints or a prior injury. The cartilage wears away at the end of the bones in this form, making movement painful as the cushion retreats.
2) Rheumatoid arthritis – The immune system starts attacking the joints, leading to inflammation and joint damage in the knuckles, elbows or heels. Doctors don’t know what causes the onset and believe it may be tied to a breakdown in the body’s immune system.
3) Psoriatic arthritis – This is an inflammation of the skin (psoriasis) as well as the joints (arthritis). Patchy, red, scaly sections of skin on the elbows and knees are the manifestation of this form of arthritis, which can start as early as age 30 and sometimes appears in childhood. This form can swell the fingers and toes and affect the fingernails or toenails as well.
Who Gets Arthritis?
There are risk factors for who might acquire arthritis symptoms. While they can arrive gradually or suddenly at any time, there are the groupings that seem most affected.
1) Those with a family history of arthritis – Many types of arthritis seem to run in families, making it likely that damaged genes are passed along. That doesn’t mean that every family member is doomed to have it, just that they have increased odds thanks to their genetic predisposition, and some siblings may have the disease while others do not.
2) Age – The older you get, the more likely the aches and pains will occur, and a sedentary lifestyle exacerbates the condition.
3) Sex – More women than men get arthritis or at least more identify the aches and pains as arthritis. Certain subsets of arthritis affect certain sexes more than others. For example, women get rheumatic arthritis more often, while men are more susceptible to gout.
4) Obesity – Weight is a big factor for arthritis development because general health decline is often accompanied by the onset of other opportunistic diseases. The stress on joints from added weight can cause deterioration in the knees, spine and hips, leading to arthritis.
5) A previous joint injury – If you have injured a joint in an accident or while playing a sport, you are statistically more likely to develop arthritis in that joint.
6) Inactive Lifestyle – Don’t exercise much? There’s a large increase in the likelihood that arthritis will develop. On an age-adjusted basis, 24 percent of sedentary people develop arthritis versus more than 18 percent of active adults. About 10 percent of United States adults age 18 or older have arthritis to a degree that it limits their activities.
Getting an Arthritis Diagnosis
A doctor will perform a complete physical exam, including taking a family history, X-rays and bloodwork. But only a few diseases – like gout -- can be identified as arthritis with any certainty.
However, once other causes of body aches and pains have been ruled out, doctors will usually recommend treating the condition with pain medication, weight loss and greater levels of physical activity, tolerance permitting. Some cases of rheumatoid arthritis are treated with anti-inflammatory medications (including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and corticosteroids), disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDS) and a new class of drugs known as biologics.
The Arthritis Prognosis
Arthritis is more than the mere onset of aches and pains in old age. Data from the years 1979 to 1998 showed that more than 145,000 people died with an underlying cause of arthritis and other rheumatic conditions. Deaths attributable to arthritis rose during that period as well, with 12 percent of deaths among people aged 15 to 44.
Most of the arthritis-related deaths in that two-decade period of measurement came from three sources – diffuse connective tissue diseases killed 34 percent of the afflicted, mostly from systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis. Some 23 percent died from other rheumatic conditions, mostly vasculitis; while 22 percent succumbed because of conditions wrought by rheumatoid arthritis. Beyond the people who died directly from the disease, another 585,000 had arthritis listed as an associated cause.
While there is no cure as yet for arthritis, research continues on stem cells and genes to determine what causes the onset of arthritis. In the meantime, limiting risk factors is a way to help the body avoid the disease.