Why women are most affected by RA?

[naturelover]

I have already in my some other posting said that my sister and as well as my wife, are having RA symptoms and are undergoing for treatment for this. But, what wonders me the most is whenever we go for consultation, I only see many women coming for diagnosing and treatment. Is there anything specific about this to be taken care.

[leighdu]

Yep, you are correct. More women than women are diagnosed with RA. From what I read in a Science blog once was that it has to do with strength and the muskoskeletal size. On average, men are stronger than women and that affects RA ...which is also why men and women are separate groups when they compete in sports :).

[Terrie]

Because there are more Women in the world than Men. So of course, more Women are affected. ;)

[kageyd]

From what I have read, women outnumber men with RA as much as 3 to 1 in some studies and at least 2 to 1 in pretty much all studies I've seen. Some scientists suggest that the hormones that differentiate the sexes have different effects on the particular subset of white blood cells that go haywire in RA. At this point, no one has a clue as to what those different effects might be. The more I read about white blood cells, especially lymphocytes, the more I realize how little is known. Hope that helps to understand the waiting room!! Kageyd

[leighdu]

Because there are more Women in the world than Men. So of course, more Women are affected. ;)

Yet more men are affected by heart disease, so this reasoning isn't really correct. There has been a lot of study on the subject and as I've said some scientist believe that it has to do with the muscoskeletal (sp?) system. Others have said it is because women are more iron deficient than men, while others say it's a calcium issue. Much more research needs to be done really on the topic.

[Terrie]

Actually, I was half kidding but anyways.

If we are talking worldwide, there are many People who die and there are no death certificates, no autopsies and if a Person in a country like say, Sudan died of a gun shot wound then that's it. No one would mention that the Person had RA if he/she did because they don't care.

In most countries, if a Person dies of a heart attack, they usually don't mention that the heart attack was due to Diabetes or another disease. My older Brother is a perfect example of this. They just said he died of a heart attack. If he had died from kidney failure they wouldn't have put that he died from Diabetes either.

This lack of proper or full info is wrong and this Really messes up the stats of who had/has what diseases in the world. Diabetes has been a Big killer for a Very long time but because the death wasn't stated as a heart attack "due to Diabetes", this Terrible disease has not been brought upfront and dealt with aggressively since "not very many People die from it". Wrong! Thousands of Diabetics die everyday or have strokes, amputations, kidney failure, blindness, etc. Diabetes is mentioned more often now only because Diabetics and their Families are doing so much to bring awareness of it, to the world.

In the records, it says that my Dad died from heart failure. True in itself but the heart failure was due to the fact that he had uncontrolled severe RA which inflamed the surrounding heart tissue. Plus the strong drugs for RA that he had been using for many years affected both his heart and kidneys.

You may have noticed that way more money is given to the heart and cancer foundations than any others.


Sorry, I didn't mean to vent. This lacking just makes me fume.

In my Family my Grandfather, Dad, first Cousin(Male), my younger Brother, my Uncle, Sister, 2 Great Aunts, myself and my Aunt all have or had severe RA. (I hope none more). Strangely, the Females with RA do not outnumber the Males with RA in our Family.

[kageyd]

Terrie, you have hit one of the BIG nails right on the head. Unfortunately, over the years I have been personally engaged with several illnesses the data for which are very messy (borderline celiac, atrial fibrillation, osteoarthritis, vertebral artery dissection and now very probable RA though late in life and seemingly mild). With atrial fib I was very lucky in finding what turned out to be an incredible forum where postings were daily set up by people with long experience in science and medicine, people who knew how to read and analyze a range of complex literature (includidng recent conference summaries), and where a new "victim" could learn an immense amount quickly. Fortunately RA has a wide range of professional postings (things like WebMD, Mayo, and many others) where one can learn the basics pretty quickly. This forum is quite good (for me) for: a. thankfulness that I am not - at least not yet - in the disabling pain that so many suffer, and b. for personal experiences from the members in trying a wide range of helpful strategies across the board, including things beyond meds, such as diet, exercise, and the like.

Well, at 69 I'm hoping I will not have to "learn" details about too many more diseases - it's tiring! But I try to get beyond that frustration so I can try to lead a full life, as do all the folks who post here.

Thanks for prodding my love for analysis. Kageyd

[crimson]

Those are very interesting and factual analysis there and I'm also trying to learn why is this so Terrie and kageyd thanks for the eye openers.

[leighdu]

Interesting point Terrie and you are correct. Heart failure is caused by so many different things, yet the death certificate almost always says "heart"..something.

[naturelover]

Terrie wrote:
Actually, I was half kidding but anyways.

you were not kidding. Actually you have woken up people who are still kidding with RA, I mean medical profession without a strong one stop cure for RA or the government with state aid support for RA. I think the govenment sombre on this because it would thought that this is only a chronic, in which the person or the family only has to take care of themselves and it is not a societal problem like any endemic or pandemic.

Great job. And my personal wish for the wellness of your family.

[prasanth5]

RA has gat a lot to do with the reduction of the calcium content in the bones. Women lose a heavy bit of calcium during pregnancy and delivery times thanks to the child sucking away most of the calcium of the mother. This results in the women losing a heavy bit of calcium and that is why they are prone to RA more. You may correct me if I am wrong in this issue.