Overview
Rheumatoid Arthritis is a kind of arthritis that has
specific characteristics that you can learn more about in the Introduction section. Information about
the prevalence of this disease can be found in the Epidemiology section.
Rheumatoid arthritis is believed to be due to genetic and
environmental factors. The Pathophysiology section
discussed the development of this kind of arthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis_SummaryThere are patient and environmental risk factors involved in the development of rheumatoid arthritis, and these are enumerated in the Risk Factors section.
Based on the new classification criteria, a patient can be diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis based on the number and site of involved joints, serological and acute phase reactants abnormalities, and symptom duration. Rheumatoid arthritis may also be classified based on the severity of the disease. A detailed discussion of these points can be viewed in the Classification section.
History and Physical Examination
There are specific clinical signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. In general, patients with rheumatoid arthritis present with joint pain and/or swelling, morning stiffness lasting for ≥1 hour, myalgia, fatigue, weight loss, low-grade fever, and depression. To know more, see the Clinical Presentation, History and Physical Examination section.
Diagnosis
The Laboratory Tests and Ancillaries
and Imaging sections discuss what
tests can be done to help with the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.
Systemic diseases and connective tissue syndromes can mimic rheumatoid
arthritis and the Differential Diagnosis
section has enumerated them.
Management
In the Evaluation
section, Disease Activity Scoring and Clinical Remission are discussed.
The first goal of therapy is to achieve sustained clinical
and radiological remission of the disease. The Principles
of Therapy section enumerated the other treatment goals and management
strategies used for rheumatoid arthritis.
The Pharmacological
Therapy section contains an extensive discussion on the
treatment options that include the different DMARD medications, drug combination
strategies and adjunctive therapies.
The different
non-pharmacological interventions, such as patient education, exercise,
rehabilitation, nutrition therapy and weight management, and other integrative
interventions are discussed in the Nonpharmacological section.
Surgery is generally indicated in patients who suffer from
an unacceptable level of pain with activity or at rest in patients with severe
rheumatoid arthritis after failure of all nonsurgical approaches to rheumatoid
arthritis management. Different surgical interventions that can be done to
patients that have this indication in managing rheumatoid arthritis are
discussed in the Surgery section.
Disease activity and the toxic effects of drugs used in the
management of rheumatoid arthritis should be measured and documented regularly.
Information in assessing the effect of therapy, drug toxicity and other factors
is in the Monitoring section.
Prognostic factors that may contribute to the poor outcome of the disease can
be seen in the Prognosis section.
