Indian women are more susceptible to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting many joints. Common symptoms of RA are painful joints, warm, tender and swollen joints as well as stiffness in joints, especially in the mornings and after inactivity. Rheumatoid Arthritis initially affects smaller joints in hands and feet.
As the disease advances, other joints like wrists, knees, ankles, elbows, hips shoulders are also affected — usually it affects same joints of both sides. Rheumatoid arthritis may also affect other organs such as eyes, skin, lungs, heart, kidneys, salivary glands, nervous tissue, blood vessels, etc. Patients may have fatigue, fever, weight