Issues of Genetics and Arthritis

More and more doctors today believe in a hereditary cause behind several forms of arthritis. As with many other conditions, a mixture of environmental and genetic factors is attributed to the onset of disease or disorder. Most current research, though, focuses on showing substance behinds models of hereditary arthritis. Such is the case with a new study conducted at City Hospital in Nottingham, England in the early months of this year (published in an upcoming issue of Annals of Rheumatology). The British team of doctors that produce this report found that a form of knee osteoarthritis is the newest addition to the collection of genetically-caused arthritis.

In total, 500 patients of total knee replacement surgery were used to determine if groups of siblings had a higher frequency of knee arthritis. According to the findings, siblings were more than twice as likely as the other knee patients to have arthritis. X-rays and hands-on examinations were used to confirm instances of the condition.

The study also found brothers to be more susceptible to the inherited arthritis than sisters. Some researchers are puzzled by this finding since more women tend to suffer from arthritis. The team at Nottingham did not provide a theory as to why this is the case. A group in California already plans to examine local patients and see if they find the same correlations as in Nottingham.

With this study and other articles recently included in the Annals of Rheumatology and Current Opinion in Rheumatology, one wonders if these new insights have any effect on patients. By appealing more to a genetic basis behind forms of arthritis patients may feel mystified or even hopeless. Health psychologists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States and at the University of Sydney in Australia plan to evaluate patients coming to terms with a genetic basis of their condition. They also hope to eventually reach out to the psychology community at large to see what the general response to an emphasis on genetic determinism is.