Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune disorder. This means that the white blood cells that attack regular diseases start attacking the body. In RA, the white blood cells attack the tissues in our joints and make the cartilage, ligaments, and the bone in the joint deteriorate. This in turn causes scarring, instability, and deformity in the joint. It is the most common autoimmune disease affecting 1% of people world wide. It may not seem much, but that's at least 70 million people throughout the world
Treatments include medication that causes the immune system to slow down. This makes it attack the joints less often. It also makes the person more susceptible to diseases so they'll be more sick than unaffected people for much longer.
Key:
Black Square- Affected Male
White Square- Non-Affected Male
Black Circle- Affected Female
White Circle- Non-Affected Female
Rheumatoid Arthritis is an X-linked gene meaning men are more likely to get it. This is because, according to the American Society of Human Genetics, 135 simplex (1 person affected) and 30 multiplex (multiple people affected) families were studied. They concluded that proband gender and age of onset were both risks, but proband gender is much higher, leaving males a much higher chance of having RA or RA symptoms
RA is a very complex disease. Meaning that the genes just give a higher chance of symptoms occurring. The genes passed down just make your body more susceptible to getting Rheumatoid Arthritis, so you could have an entire family of people with RA and not have it, or you could be the first in your family to have it.
Citing:
"Rheumatoid Arthritis Facts and Statistics." RheumatoidArthritis.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.
X-linked Pedigree Chart. Digital image. GAMSAT Section 3: Studying Pedigree Charts. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.
Rheumatoid Arthritis. Digital image. Rheumatoid Arthritis. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.
Rheumatoid Arthritis. Digital image. Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.
Lynn, A. H., C. K. Kwoh, C. M. Venglish, C. E. Aston, and A. Chakravarti. "Genetic Epidemiology of Rheumatoid Arthritis." American Journal of Human Genetics. U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 1995. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.
Slomski, Genevieve T. "Rheumatoid Arthritis." The Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, edited by Brigham Narins, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2005, pp. 1116-1121. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Accessed 12 Mar. 2017.
Rheumatoid Arthritis. Digital image. Rheumatoid Arthritis. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.