Rheumatoid Arthritis in Men Prognosis

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Age at diagnosis

While age is one of risk factors of the disease (your risk to develop RA might increase with age, especially at the ages between 40 and 60), people who are diagnosed with the disease at a younger age will generally experience greater disease severity.

Having the disease at earlier age means there are greater chances for the disease to cause more complications. In general, the longer disease duration will be more potential to cause a shortened life expectancy.

Rheumatoid factor

It is a protein produced by the immune system that can mistakenly attack healthy cells /tissues of the body. High number of rheumatoid factor is usually linked to autoimmune disorders, such as Sjogren’s syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis.

Interestingly, not all people with RA have abnormal high levels of rheumatoid factor in their blood. Even some healthy people are positive for rheumatoid factor, too.

Your diagnosis doesn’t only rely on your rheumatoid factor. But some studies suggest that patients with high levels of rheumatoid factor are generally more likely to have more severe symptoms of the disease.

Early treatment

Men with RA tend to get the disease in their middle age. Many times, they are tempted to tough out the pain and other symptoms. As a result, they tend to delay seeing a doctor. But delaying the treatment is wrong way to cope with the problem, because early treatment is important for the outcome of the disease!

In fact, RA is much easier to treat when it has not caused its complications. Early treatment can improve life expectancy of patient.

What else?

The following factors may also contribute to affect the prognosis of the disease:

  1. How well patient responds treatments.
  2. Medical history of patient. For example, RA is more difficult to treat if it develops with another autoimmune disease.
  3. Overall levels of patient’s health and wellbeing.
  4. Lifestyle factors. For example, whether you can stop smoking (if you are a smoker)! Studies suggest that cigarette smoking may worsen the outcome of the disease.

For more guidance, talk with someone or doctor who knows most about your condition. Again, rheumatoid arthritis prognosis can greatly vary from case to case!

The good news, RA treatment options are now advancing. Some works more effectively to improve chances for remission.

Citations /references:

  1. https://www.rheumatoidarthritis.org/ra/prognosis/life-expectancy/
  2. http://www.arthritis.org/about-arthritis/types/rheumatoid-arthritis/what-is-rheumatoid-arthritis.php

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