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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.

Another cause of the rheumatoid type is the gene known as human leukocyte antigen (HLA). This suggests that one's likeliness of having the problem is pronounced if it can be proved that either one or both of the parents suffered from the condition. Since a person cannot control the existence of genes in the body, other factors, such as the modifiable ones, must be controlled to such an extent as to balance the effect of the natural ones.

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.

Smoking is also bad for the bones. It makes the condition to get worse and retards the healing processes of the bones. Even though the exact way this happens is not yet known, scientists are quite convinced that smoking does not help people with bone problems. It is therefore advisable to quit smoking in order to remain healthy.




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