By EKalman January 31, 2023 - 6:14am

When you're diagnosed with a medical condition, one of the first things you'll wonder about is how or why this happened. Does the disease run in your family? Did you do anything that increased your chances of getting it? Was there anything you could have done to avoid it?

It's natural to wonder and ask these questions, but there are times when there are no answers. And sometimes, as in the case of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), there may be several reasons. So which of the following are the most common risk factors for RA, and do you have any of them? Here's what you should know.

1. Genetics
There are a few known risk factors for RA that you cannot change, the most important of which is your genetic profile. In other words, if other members of your family have or have had RA, you are more likely to develop it as well.

Exact figures are unavailable, but the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society reports that first-degree relatives of people with RA are three times more likely to develop it themselves.

However, many people who carry RA-causing genes will never develop the condition, and not everyone who develops it is genetically predisposed. However, genetics remains one of the most important risk factors at work.

2. Age
Although anyone can be affected by RA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that your chances increase with age; the most common age for people to develop RA is in their sixties.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, RA usually begins between the ages of 30 and 60 in women, and it is only rarely diagnosed in men under the age of 45.

3. Smoking
As if cancer wasn't enough of a reason to quit smoking, you can now add RA to the list. Furthermore, the fact that smoking is a preventable risk factor makes it even more significant in this context. Not only does smoking increase your chances of developing RA, but it can also worsen your symptoms and disease progression.

People who smoke develop RA about ten years earlier than those who are not genetically predisposed.

4. Poor dental hygiene
What is the connection between brushing your teeth and RA? As it turns out, quite a bit. People who have poor dental hygiene or periodontal disease are more likely to have severe RA symptoms.

RA not only causes joint inflammation, but it can also affect your jaw, making it difficult to keep your teeth clean, increasing your risk of gum recession, oral infections, and ulcers, and depleting your salivation, which may lead to more cavities.

5. Stress
Yes, stress is a normal part of life for most people, but if you are predisposed to RA, high stress can hasten the disease's onset.

In other words, chronic stress or even a single extremely stressful event can cause RA genes to be expressed in someone who already has them due to a family history of the disease.

6. Illness or infection
During an infection, your body may initiate a heightened immune response, sending a signal to begin attacking healthy joint tissue.

Before you panic that the cold you just caught will cause you to develop RA, keep in mind that this is not a common cause. Bacteria is a common culprit (think Lyme Disease), and viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus, parvovirus, hepatitis, and HIV are frequently linked to the onset of RA.

7. Environmental toxins
Some environmental factors, such as silica exposure, can increase your risk of developing RA. This is most common in people who work in industrial settings such as mines, quarries, and steel mills, where inorganic silica is commonly present in high concentrations.

8. Female hormones
The female-to-male RA ratio is ten to one, making the disease far more common in women than in men. Why? Hormones produced by females.

During a woman's reproductive years, hormonal changes such as menstruation, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and perimenopause can frequently trigger the inflammatory response that leads to RA.

9. Poor nutrition
No magic diet will prevent RA, but we know that obesity increases your chances of developing it. Both age and gender are factors here, with RA being more common in obese women under the age of 55.

Again, the link between body fat and RA is related to inflammation. Body fat can stimulate the production of cytokines, a protein involved in the inflammatory response. This can hasten the onset of RA, resulting in joint inflammation much sooner.