Traits and Genetic Disorders That Babies Get From Mom

Rheumatoid arthritis

The cause of rheumatoid arthritis is not clear, but scientists suggest that it involves a combination of genetic and environmental factors which affect a person’s immune system.Isolated reports of RA affecting several generations in families, which were all published in the early 20th century, prompted further studies in the 50s, 60s and 70s. These compared the number of cases of RA in relatives of patients with the disease with the number of cases in relatives of patients without the disease, or with the number of cases in the general population. These studies confirmed that relatives of individuals with RA had an increased risk of getting the disease themselves, compared to other relatives or the general population. The estimates of the degree of this risk varied quite widely between the studies, reflecting the different methods used The most recent study assessing this issue, which was undertaken in Sweden, reported that first degree relatives of patients with RA (parent, sibling or child) were approximately three times more likely to develop RA when compared to first degree relatives of people from the general population.