The sign that can betray a rheumatic illness

Inflammatory back pain affects young people most often, and some even end up losing their job. Poliarthritis starts most often at 40-45 years, but there are even younger patients. There are about 2 in Romania. 000 children with juvenile arthritis. Although at the level of perception are considered diseases of the elderly, rheumatic diseases affect to a significant extent the active population, young people and even children. The category of rheumatic diseases includes over 200 forms, with over 600 in Romania.

000 people (3% of the population) presenting one of the forms of the disease, among the most frequent being rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis and psoriatic arthropathy. According to the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), a quarter of the entire population of the European Union (over 120 million people) suffers from rheumatic diseases, the most common form of chronic disease in Europe. Almost every family in the EU is affected to a certain extent. At the same time, the frequency of these conditions among young people and the active population is an extremely important impact at the socio-economic level, musculoskeletal diseases affecting the ability of people to work, sometimes even definitively. They are responsible for half of the absences from the workplace and a three times higher unemployment rate than among the general population.

Often, the lack of information and the delay with which patients present themselves to the doctor lead to the delay of the diagnosis or even to a lack thereof. If not treated properly, rheumatic diseases can affect the quality of life of patients, daily activities, but also their physical abilities. All these methods can establish a correct diagnosis as close as possible to the onset of the disease, and a treatment plan that slows the progression of affection, Dr. . Cătălin Codreanu, President of the Romanian League against Rheumatism.

Over 3% of the adult population is affected by this type of pain, and the most predisposed are men. Inflammatory back pain usually starts before the age of 40 years. Pain is attenuated with movement and does not improve at rest, often occurs at night, especially during the second part of the night, and wakes the patient out of sleep, accompanied by stiffness in the morning, usually more than 30 minutes. In the case of back pain of inflammatory type, the length of time in which the correct diagnosis is established may even reach 10 years, which definitely leads to worsening of the disease. The longer it takes until the appropriate treatment for the type of back pain they suffer, the more the person is more prone to irreversible injuries that may have a negative impact on his daily activities.

Therefore, in order to reduce diagnostic time, presenting to the family doctor and the rheumatologist since the first symptoms is extremely important. .