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Risk Factors Associated With Arthritis

By Anthony Martin


Pains and stiffness around the bones can lead to their inflammation. Unfortunately, this affects up to 50 million people in America today. The causes of the over 50 million cases can be attributed to some modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Among the modifiable causes of arthritis are inactivity, occupation, diet, smoking and joint injuries while the non-modifiable ones include hereditary, hormones, sex, and age.

The problem with this condition is that it affects the bones. The bones are protected with something called the cartilage, but this protective layer wears out as one ages. This means that the older people get, the likelier the chance for the bones at the joints to be exposed to each other.

Being a male or a female also says a lot about one's likeliness of having this bone inflammation. It has been discovered that more women have it than men. Statistics say that 64% of women have it more than the men. Of all the types of bone stiffness and inflammation that exist, only Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and gout are more common in men. The other forms of this condition are more pronounced in women.

Hormones, which are natural chemical substances in the body, have been discovered in clinical studies to be the major factor affecting the occurrence of this condition. As a result, about 70% of women suffer more of this than men. That means that if you are a woman, you are already naturally predisposed to suffering from the rheumatoid type than you would have been if you were a man.

Many health conditions are hereditary and the same applies to this one. The gene called human leukocyte antigen (HLA) can cause this problem when passed from one generation to another. Although there are many other causes of it, this particular gene is quite responsible for a number of well-known cases.

Modifiable risk factors refer to those ones that an individual can control. An example of modifiable factors is activity (or inactivity). This means that one can choose to be active or inactive, and the result of the decision taken can have an effect on the occurrence of this condition. If people are more active, the bones are more flexible and the problem will be less common.

Again, the diet one takes plays a major role. Taking foods rich in sodium salts will increase one's chances of having this health problem. On the other hand, taking fruits like bananas will reduce the risk.

Joint pain and inflammation can be worse with people who smoke a lot. Clinical studies prove that smokers are more susceptible to this condition than those who do not engage in the act. As a matter of fact, even when the bones should heal naturally, smoking will prevent this and the condition even becomes worse.




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