Many articles about arthritis mention that there are hundreds of types of arthritis. The most common types that we have been discussing in class are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, which are also the only 2 out of hundreds that I have heard of before. So I decided to learn about another type of arthritis.
I found an article containing information about a type of arthritis that occurs in people with psoriasis, called psoriatic arthritis. It is defined as "an inflammation of the joints that occurs in 10 to 30 percent of patients with psoriasis. It is not a type of psoriasis, but a symptom of psoriasis which is classified as a type of arthritis." The article I found stated that "Approximately 1 million people in the United States suffer from psoriatic arthritis. Most of them are adults between the ages of 30 to 50. However, psoriatic arthritis can affect juveniles and young people." I thought that it was very interesting that this type of arthritis is known to occur in children, because arthritis is usually said to occur in older people.
Psoriatic arthritis is suspected to be caused by genetics, but the cause is unknown. Therapy for this condition includes psoriasis treatment and progress that is being made in a type of medication made from human and animal proteins, called biologics.
http://www.omnimedicalsearch.com/conditions-diseases/psoriatic-arthritis.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I too think of older adults as being the one who have arthritis. I wanted to know the prevalence and types of juvenile arthritis so, I did a little searching on the Arthritis Foundation's website and came across the JA Alliance. I found that juvenile arthritis is one of the most common diseases affecting youth in the US. Approximately 294,000 children under the age of 18 are affected by pediatric arthritis and rheumatologic conditions. There are also several different types of arthritis which affect children under the age of 18 years. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) has three classifications: polyarticular (affecting five or more joints), pauciarticular (affecting four or fewer joints) or systemic (also results in fevers greater than 103 degrees and a rash on the skin). Other common types of arthritis seen in children include: juvenile spondyloarthropies, juvenile psoriatic arthritis, juvenile dermatomyositis, juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus, juvenile vasculitis. It also states the most forms of juvenile arthritis are idiopathic. And, at this point treatment of the symptoms associated with inflammation and pain are the focus. Take a look for yourself, it seems like a great resource for parents to help their children cope with JA.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.arthritis.org/ja-alliance-main.php