Rheumatoid Arthritis

This week we’ll look in to the Mobility related issue of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). RA is a peripheral autoimmune arthritis. A peripheral disease is one that affects primarily places outside of the trunk - the stomach, back, and chest area. RA can be tricky to diagnose because of how it affects a person’s body; it usually attacks the hands, wrists, and knees but can also can affect shoulders, hips, and foot joints. It also is usually associated with a positive antibody test (blood test), but in certain cases that test may be negative! Getting an accurate diagnosis is very important as RA is treatable with medications known as “Disease Modifying AntiRheumatic Drugs,” or DMARDs and “Biological Response Modifiers,” which prevent this debilitating disease from progressing.

RA is particularly important as we age because the incidence increases as age increases! RA is most commonly diagnosed in a person’s sixth decade and is much more common in women. It is usually brought to a person’s attention the same way osteoarthritis (OA) is - pain in a joint. Many older adults will ignore symptoms and think their symptoms are due to aging or osteoarthritis. While the symptoms of RA and OA are very similar, an important difference is that the morning joint stiffness of OA improves with movement, usually after about 20 minutes. In contrast, the joint stiffness of RA is present for longer than 30 minutes.

RA is not just a disease of joints, it manifests in other places as well. A major concern, especially as we age, is that RA can lead to increased bone density loss, and persons affected by RA have a much higher chance of an osteoporotic fracture than persons unaffected. Other major manifestations of RA occur in the forms of lung disease and heart disease because of the chronic inflammation and stress from the autoimmune disease.

RA is a major factor on a person’s mobility, be it from the joint disease or the non-joint manifestations. Lung disease and heart disease can severely limit the distance and duration a person can walk, and in combination with joint disease, a person may no longer be able to walk. Early diagnosis and treatment is key as this may help preserve independence, mobility, and the ability to do what Matters.

Key Points:

• RA is a whole body autoimmune disease that commonly affects the hands, wrists, and knees

• Diagnosis is more common as a person ages, usually diagnosed in the 60s

• Early diagnosis and treatment can preserve mobility and ability to do what Matters!