Arthritis

Arthritis (from Greek arthro-, joint + -itis, inflammation) is a group of conditions that affect the health of the bone joints in the body. One in three adult Americans suffer from some form of arthritis and the disease affects about twice as many women as men.

Types of arthritis

Primary forms of arthritis:

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• Septic arthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Osteoarthritis
• Gout and pseudogout
• Juvenile arthritis
• Still's disease
• Ankylosing spondylitis

Secondary to other diseases:

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• Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
• Henoch-Schönlein purpura
• Psoriatic arthritis
• Reiter's syndrome
• Reactive arthritis
• Hemochromatosis
• Hepatitis
• Wegener's granulomatosis (and many other vasculitis syndromes)
• Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), HIDS (hyperimmunoglobulinemia D and periodic fever syndrome) and TRAPS (TNF-alpha receptor associated periodic fever syndrome).

Diseases that can mimic arthritis:

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• Pierre Marie-Bamberger syndrome (hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy, a paraneoplastic phenomenon of lung cancer)
• multiple myeloma
• osteoporosis
• others