causes of arthritis Flashcards
what are the causes of acute monoarthiritis?
- infections. Usually streptococcal.
- crystal induced e.g gout in men or psuedogout in elderly women with severe RA.
what are the causes of chronic monoarthritis?
- infections e.g TB
- inflammatory e.g psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, foreign bodies
- non inflammatory e.g OA, traumatic e.g meniscal tear, osteonecrosis (associated with prednisone and bisphosphonates that treat osteoporosis) or neuropathic, such as charcots joint
- tumours
what are the causes of chronic (3 months+) polyarthiritis?
- inflammatory e.g RA, PsA, reactive arthritis
- autoimmune arthritis e.g SLE, vasculitis
- crystal arthritis e.g uncontrolled gout
what are the causes of arthritis of the DIPJs?
- PsA - will also be nail dystrophy on the affected digit
- OA is the commonest disorder affecting this joint (Heberdens nodes at DIJ and bouchards nodes at PIJ)
what causes morning stiffness that lasts longer than 30 minutes?
suggests inflammatory arthritis such as RA or PsA
in inflammatory disease, the duration of stiffness is an indicator of disease activity
how can you differentiate an inflammatory from a mechanical disease?
in inflammatory diseases
- morning stiffness lasts more than 1 hour whereas mechanical lasts <30mins
- inflammatory made better with activity, mechanical made worse
- resting makes it worse but makes mechanical better
- fatigue is significant with inflammatory but minimal with mechanical
- systemic involvement with inflammatory, none with mechanical
how can drug history potentially cause inflammatory symptoms?
- diuretics reduce renal uric acid excretion and may lead to gout
- beta blockers worsen raynauds symptoms
- penicillin may cause cutaneous hypersensitivity vasculitis.
why should methotrexate be avoided in patients who have excessive alcohol intake?
to avoid liver cirrhosis
