Causes Of Rheumatoid Arthritis - Those We Know

What causes our immune systems to turn against our own bodies? This is a mystery scientists have tried to solve for a long time and the causes of rheumatoid arthritis are still not completely clear. But, with the help of research, study groups and many experiments, a few factors and possibilities have been linked to rheumatoid arthritis.

In the United States, 0.5% to 1% of the adult population suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, which is approximately 1.2 million people. The recent reported cases have gone down in number though and the reasons are being investigated, because it might be due to a reduction of causes of rheumatoid arthritis or other factors, which would shed more light on the research involving the condition.

Middle age is often when the symptoms start to come up, but that doesn’t mean younger people don’t get afflicted. Rheumatoid arthritis affects women more than men, causing most of the damage in older women. Although most causes of rheumatoid arthritis are now identified, medication and treatment are still expensive for the ordinary income earner.

Genetic and hereditary factors are largely responsible for rheumatoid arthritis afflicting people. However, these primary causes of rheumatoid arthritis flare up due to certain other factors, which might act as triggers for the onset of the disease. These are concluded to be related to the environment. Research in this field reveals that some patients might just be gene carriers for this condition, while others might reveal a genetic mapping for rheumatic arthritis, which is symptomatic. With this, the process of identifying triggers of the condition has moved a step further. Rheumatoid arthritis is linked to a single gene in our body, which becomes dominant only under the influence of other related factors.

Environmental factors can be so many and varied too. The exact trigger is still not found, but research points towards some bacteria and viruses. It cannot be ranked as a disease, and it is absolutely not contagious. Some of the related causes of rheumatoid arthritis are linked to the hormones secreted during pregnancy and the period when mothers breast feed babies. The use of hormonal birth control also affect the possibility of getting rheumatoid arthritis.
In the case of pregnant women, one of the major causes of rheumatoid arthritis, is the molecules of the immune system called interleukin12 (IL-12) as well as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a). It is an established fact that these molecules lead to inflammation as a reaction to some specific external trigger factors and even lead to gradual destruction of tissue, both of which are symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. As a consequence of rheumatoid arthritis, people suffer from severe joint pains, physical activity gets curtailed and this leads to other problems like stress, depression and anxiety.

Not all the answers are crystal clear yet, but there will be a day when extensive research, experimentation, clinical trials and gene therapy find ways to eliminate the trigger potential of the known causes of rheumatoid arthritis. Eventually, this will lead to the discovery of a complete cure for the condition.

By: Max Peykar

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Around twenty million Americans suffer from arthritis and this figure will go up to 60 million by 2020. Find out what are causes of rheumatoid arthritis and how you can live with arthritis at www.arthritis-treatment-guide.info/news

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