Complaining of pain in the joints, some patients face the diagnosis of "osteoarthritis", others - "arthritis".When they meet, after having exchanged descriptions of their symptoms in conversation, they suddenly come to the conclusion that there is only one disease, since it manifests itself almost identically in both cases!The question arises: what, then, are the differences between arthritis and osteoarthritis?In fact, many people confuse these diseases, but despite the similarity of symptoms, arthritis and osteoarthritis are different diseases with significant differences in their clinical course.That is, understanding the cause of the disease, the mechanism of its occurrence and development leads to effective therapy.
Arthritis and osteoarthritis: what they have in common
The appearance of arthritis and osteoarthritis can be due to a single factor or a combination of numerous causes.Both diseases can develop under the influence of, for example, injury or diabetes.In both cases, patients experience degenerative-dystrophic changes in the articular cartilage, causing severe pain and, in some cases, limitation of mobility.The target of the diseases is the joints and periarticular tissues of the body, in particular the knee joint.Patients, sometimes overcoming the pain, take care of themselves, and without effective therapy, all their efforts fail.The patient loses his ability to work and instead acquires a disability.
According to the accepted ICD-10 classification, arthritis and osteoarthritis are combined into one subgroup, "Arthropathy", disorders that mainly affect the peripheral joints (extremities).
Arthritis and osteoarthritis: differences.
Sometimes it is impossible to precisely determine the trigger that started one of these two diseases, but the consequences are the same: you feel pain and stiffness in the joint, swelling, edema, redness, hyperemia of the skin over the affected area, etc.In reality, only a person without medical training can confuse these two completely different pathologies, but a doctor can easily separate one from the other.
The main difference is that if the direct cause of osteoarthritis is mechanical damage, excessive or disproportionate load on the joint apparatus, age-related changes, then arthritis manifests itself as an inflammatory process in the joint and periarticular tissues.With osteoarthritis, blood counts are normal and damage to other organs and systems does not occur.With arthritis, the opposite picture is observed: specific proteins, increased ESR and leukocytes will be detected in the blood.The pathological process involves the heart, kidneys and genitourinary system.
Another difference is that osteoarthritis mainly affects the knee and hip joints, which carry a large stabilizing load.Arthritis prefers the small joints of the hands, feet, and wrists and, less commonly, affects the elbow, knee, and hip.
What causes osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is defined by experts as a non-inflammatory joint disease that has a chronic and progressive course.As a result of degenerative-dystrophic changes, articular cartilage is destroyed.Osteoarthritis is usually accompanied by inflammation of the synovial membrane of the joints or ligaments (synovitis), which also contributes to increased destruction of joint structures.
Precisely because of synovitis, osteoarthritis is called osteoarthritis in English-language medical literature, using the suffix “-itis” to indicate the presence of an inflammatory process.Although synovitis is not an integral part of osteoarthritis, it is quite possible to occur without it.
It is believed that osteoarthritis is the fate of older people.In fact, with age, the risk of joint damage constantly increases, but athletes are also at high risk of contracting the disease due to excessive physical exertion or poor technique, such as strength exercises.Additionally, the destruction of the articular-ligamentous apparatus can cause:
- hereditary predisposition,
- congenital or acquired pathologies of joint development (dysplasia, detachment of the epiphysis from the bone, joint hypermobility, etc.),
- the presence of metabolic and hormonal disorders such as diabetes mellitus,
- overweight and obesity.
Danish scientists conducted a study on the risk factors for primary osteoarthritis of the hip and knee joints.The results revealed that genetic factors and environment have different effects on large weight-bearing joints.Regarding the hip joint, the most important factors for the development of the pathology are genetic (47%) and environmental (22%) components.Meanwhile, for the development of the same pathology in the knee joint, age and gender differences, especially after 50 years of age, as well as various environmental factors are of great importance.
Destruction of cartilage tissue can also develop as a result of inflammatory diseases of bones and joints (gout, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.).
What is arthritis?
Arthritis is commonly known as the entire spectrum of inflammatory joint diseases.If the disease affects a joint, it is monoarthritis;more than one is polyarthritis.Arthritis is distinguished as independent diseases and as a manifestation of other pathologies.In the first case we are talking about rheumatoid, septic arthritis, gout.In the second, on psoriatic and reactive arthritis.The inflammatory process in the joints can also be a consequence of hepatitis, Lyme disease (tick-borne borreliosis) or granulomatosis.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which a person's immune system mistakenly attacks their own body tissue.In this case, in addition to inflammatory reactions in other organs, inflammation of the synovial membrane of the joints occurs without the penetration of a microbial pathogen into it.The joint swells, pain appears and mobility is impaired.
Another form of arthritis is gout, a systemic disease due to improper metabolism.Excess uric acid is deposited on the joint surface and causes inflammation.Heredity, hormonal factors (men get sick in most cases) and poor nutrition are of great importance for the development of the disease.Gout is often confused with osteoarthritis lesions in the big toe area.
The development of some types of arthritis is provoked by the penetration of pathogenic microorganisms into the joint space, most often bacteria.