Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Imagine that you are diagnosed with a condition that flares in and out of control repeatedly every year. Your doctor has told you that the cause may be genetic, or it may be directly related to previous toxins or illnesses you may have been exposed to, leaving you frustrated and searching for answers. None of your family members have ever had joint problems, but yours have been so sore and sore lately that even getting out of bed in the morning feels like a chore. It turns out that you have an autoimmune disease that affects about 1.3 million people in our country every year. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic rheumatic disease that directly attacks the body's joints and surrounding tissues, causing pain, inflammation and damage. Although little is known about the precise cause of rheumatoid arthritis, most doctors believe that some sort of genetic predisposition plays a role. role in the development of the disease. In this case, the reason why rheumatoid arthritis is passed from parents to children is the presence of a human leukocyte antigen or HLA gene, which has been shown to increase the risk of developing the disease. Another theory is that factors such as socioeconomic class and exposure to certain pollutants have a direct influence on whether or not rheumatoid arthritis develops. According to Dr. Jaime Hart, medical instructor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, "People of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to live in homes where more air pollution enters from outside or other factors such as general health status that may make them more susceptible to the effects of air pollution.” Many other risk factors such as age and… middle of paper… arthritis is different from osteoarthritis for a few main reasons While osteoarthritis usually affects older generations, rheumatoid arthritis can occur at any age as it is an autoimmune disease and not necessarily caused by the initial wear and tear of the joints. Osteoarthritis causes a degeneration of the cartilage which usually ends up causing bone to bone contact,. while the pain and swelling of rheumatoid arthritis results from the accumulation of fluid in the joints and inflammation of the synovial membrane. Another important difference between these two conditions is the fact that rheumatoid arthritis is usually more widespread throughout the body than osteoarthritis. As stated by William C. Shiel Jr., MD, “In some people with rheumatoid arthritis, chronic inflammation leads to destruction of cartilage, bones, and ligaments, causing deformities in the joints.”