rheumatoid arthritis

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Inflammation of the joints; a chronic progressive disease, it begins with pain and stiffness in the small joints of the hands and feet and spreads to involve other joints, often with severe disability and disfigurement. There may also be damage to the eyes, nervous system, and other organs. The disease is treated with a range of drugs and with surgery, possibly including replacement of major joints.

Rheumatoid arthritis most often develops between the ages of 30 and 40, and is three times more common in women than men. It is an autoimmune disease and thus some of the recently developed treatments involve drugs which deactivate those parts of the immune system responsible for tissue damage.

In the West it affects 2–3% of women and nearly 1% of men; an estimated 165 million people worldwide suffered from rheumatoid arthritis in 1995. In children rheumatoid arthritis is known as Still's disease.

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