What Causes Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Nobody knows for certain what causes rheumatoid arthritis even though scientists and researchers continue to this day to conduct studies and experiments to determine its cause.

What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most devastating forms of arthritis and if proper action isn’t taken immediately, it can cripple you permanently. What we do know, however, is that rheumatoid arthritis occurs when joint linings and other body parts become inflamed.

Women are more vulnerable to this disease than men. Although both children and the elderly may be diagnosed of having rheumatoid arthritis, those facing the greatest risk are between ages 20 to 50.

Possible Causes of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Although none of the following are considered certain causes of rheumatoid arthritis, knowing what these are and doing what you can to avoid making them applicable to your situation could help prevent you from suffering from rheumatoid arthritis in the future.

Infection. There has been sufficient data gathered from various studies to suggest that an infection of sorts could be the cause of rheumatoid arthritis. Most probably, this infection originates from bacteria or a viral strain.

Genetics. While there is not enough data to ascertain that rheumatoid arthritis can be an inherited disease, family history nonetheless seems to play a role in its occurrence. Studies reveal that genes could increase the risk for a person to have rheumatoid arthritis. Even the severity of rheumatoid arthritis seems to depend on these genes as well.

Hormones. Other scientists believed that certain hormones in the body are the guilty party behind rheumatoid arthritis. Little data is however available to support this theory.

Environmental Factors. Scientists don’t rule out the possibility that an external source is behind the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis. Increased smoking activities, for instance, have been recently discovered to greatly increase the risk of having rheumatoid arthritis for individuals.

Signs and Symptoms for Rheumatoid Arthritis

As there are no known causes for rheumatoid arthritis, individuals will have to rely on their personal detection and professional diagnoses of signs and symptoms to determine if they’re suffering from this condition or not.

How and when signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis occurs depend on a case to case basis. As there are active and remission periods for this disease, there will definitely be times when there seems to be nothing that will indicate the presence of rheumatoid arthritis...