The antiquity of rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

The antiquity of rheumatoid arthritis, first clearly set off as an entity by Landre-Beauvais in 1800, is of more than historic interest. If the disease is actually of relatively recent origin, an environmental cause becomes likely. It is reasonably certain that it was identified by Sydenham in 1676. But studies in human palaeopathology, while revealing unmistakable examples of ankylosing spondylitis dating back to prehistoric times, have as yet failed to provide convincing evidence of the existence of rheumatoid arthritis prior to Sydenham's description.In contrast to the disease itself, the antiquity of its name rheumatoid arthritis is

Increased Frequency of HLA‐Cw3 and HLA‐Dw4 in Rheumatoid Arthritis

“…Alternatively, it is possible that an allele has arisen by mutation on a particular haplotype and has not yet reached equilibrium in the population. This possibility is attractive in this instance because rheumatoid arthritis seems to have appeared only recently (21).…”

Human Paleopathology: Current Syntheses and Future Options

“…I9HH considered as having juvenile arthritis. This painting has also been discussed by Short (1974) (Dequeker 1984 well-known personalities of whom a "portrait" was made (Dequeker 1987 (Webb 1987 (Cramp 1983: 19 (Gilbert and Mieike 1985;Cohen and Armclagos 1984) and anthropologists have advocated a close working relationship between them and archeologists (Osborne 1969 (Bennike 1985;Ortnerand Putschar 1981 . Authors may use words which have changed in meaning through time , or the words may describe something of which the people in the past did not know the meaning (Marwick 1970:4 (Marwick 1970:23 Kenward et al 1986;Grieg 1981 (Klenerman 1966 In all individuals, the presence or absence of cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis, and dental enamel hypoplasia was recorded to indicate the health status of the individual …”

“…The absence of reported prehistoric cases has led some authors to suggest a recent origin for the condition, perhaps triggered by some environmental change (Short 1974 (Allison et al 1973) disproved this idea.…”

Rheumatoid Arthritis in Recession

“…However, some environmental agents such as tobacco smoking appear to be contributory to development of RA. The absence of RA in Europe prior to the 17th and 18th centuries 15 has led to the suggestion that the disease was imported from the New World, where paleontological evidence has identified a disease with signs like those of RA especially in populations in whom tobacco smoking was common 16 . A considerable body of epidemiological evidence now supports the view that smoking is associated with both the onset and severity of RA.…”