Risk Factors
Risk Factors for 20 Diseases
Source:
Mayo Clinic Adult-Onset
- People younger than 40, with most cases being identified in individuals around the age of 30.
- Males.
- Individuals who have a close relative, particularly a parent, with ankylosing spondylitis.
- Are expecting a child or become pregnant.
- Are immobile for long durations, such as during extended hospital stays or travel.
- Have surgery or medical procedures requiring anesthesia.
- Regularly smoke or use tobacco products.
- Take birth control pills or participate in hormone replacement therapy for menopause.
- Have high levels of cholesterol or triglycerides in the blood.
- Sex assigned at birth: women are more frequently diagnosed with fibromyalgia than men.
- Family background: having relatives with fibromyalgia may increase your chances of developing the condition.
- Coexisting health issues: conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or obesity can raise the likelihood of experiencing fibromyalgia.
Source:
- Diet. Regularly eating foods like red meat, shellfish, or drinking sweetened drinks can raise uric acid, increasing the chance of gout. Alcohol, particularly beer, can also play a role.
- Weight. Carrying extra weight can result in the body making more uric acid and make it tougher for the kidneys to get rid of it.
- Medical conditions. Some ongoing health issues, such as poorly controlled high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, or disorders of the heart and kidneys, can raise the risk for gout.
- Certain medications. Some drugs, like low-dose aspirin, certain blood pressure medicines (including thiazide diuretics, ACE inhibitors, and beta blockers), and medications for preventing organ rejection, can increase uric acid amounts.
- Family history. If relatives have had gout, your own risk is higher.
- Age and sex. Men often get gout earlier in life, usually before age 50. Women’s chances rise after menopause as their uric acid levels increase.
- Recent surgery or trauma. Gout attacks can sometimes be triggered by surgery, injuries, or even after a vaccination.
Source:
- Gender: Lupus is much more common in women than in men. In fact, women develop lupus far more frequently than men do.
- Age: Although lupus can appear during any stage of life, it is usually found in people in their twenties or thirties.
- Race: The likelihood of developing lupus is higher among African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American women than in Caucasian women. Severe forms of lupus are also seen more often in African-American and Hispanic women.
- Family history: If someone in your family has lupus, your own risk is a bit higher, but it is still rare. For instance, few children born to mothers with lupus will actually get the condition themselves.
Source:
Hopkins Medicine Lupus
Source:
Mayoclinic Dermatomyositis
- Damage to joints from accidents, repetitive movements, or physical activities at work or during sports;
- Other joint diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and gout;
- Metabolic problems, such as diabetes;
- Excess body weight, particularly affecting the hips and knees, which puts extra strain on these joints;
- Having relatives with osteoarthritis;
- Age and being assigned female at birth are also recognized risk factors.
Source:
WHO Osteoarthritis
Risks you can’t change
- Sex assigned at birth: Women face a significantly higher risk of developing osteoporosis compared to men.
- Age: The risk for osteoporosis increases as you grow older.
- Race: People of white or Asian descent have a greater likelihood of developing osteoporosis.
- Family history: If a close family member, like a parent or sibling, has osteoporosis—especially if they have experienced a hip fracture—your risk is higher.
- Body frame size: Individuals with smaller body frames may face a greater risk, perhaps because they have less bone mass as they age.
Source:Mayoclinic Osteoporosis
- Age: Almost everyone who has PMR is over 50. It’s most common among people between 70 and 75.
- Sex: Females have it more often than males.
- Race and ethnicity: People who are white experience PMR more often than other ethnic groups. It’s especially common among people with Northern European backgrounds.
- Psoriasis. People with psoriasis are more likely to get psoriatic arthritis than those who do not have the skin condition.
- Family history. Having a parent or sibling with psoriatic arthritis raises your own risk of developing it.
- Age. Although psoriatic arthritis can appear at any stage of life, it is most frequently diagnosed in adults aged 30 to 55.
- Nail psoriasis
Source:
- Age: People in their twenties through forties are most frequently diagnosed with reactive arthritis.
- Sex assigned at birth: Foodborne infections can trigger reactive arthritis in anyone, but those assigned male at birth more often develop the condition after sexually transmitted infections.
- Genetics: Having the HLA-B27 gene raises the chances of getting reactive arthritis, but most people with this gene never develop it.
- Infection: HIV infection can make reactive arthritis more likely to develop.
- Biological sex. People who are assigned female at birth are more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than those assigned male at birth.
- Age. While rheumatoid arthritis can develop at any age, it is most often diagnosed in middle-aged adults. Children and teenagers may experience a similar condition called juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
- Family history. Having close relatives with rheumatoid arthritis or other autoimmune conditions increases your risk of developing the disease.
- Smoking. Smoking cigarettes over a long period raises the likelihood of developing rheumatoid arthritis and can make symptoms worse in people who continue to smoke.
- Gum disease. Serious gum infections like periodontal disease can damage the tissues that support the teeth and may raise the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
- Excess weight. Carrying extra weight could be linked to a higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
- Age and sex. Although sarcoidosis is possible at any stage of life, it appears most frequently in adults aged 20 to 60. It also tends to be a bit more common in women than in men.
- Race. People of African or Northern European background are more often diagnosed with sarcoidosis. Among African Americans, the disease is also more likely to involve organs outside the lungs.
- Occupation or hobbies. Exposure to dust and certain chemicals at work or during hobbies may raise your chances of developing sarcoidosis.
- Family history. Having a close relative with sarcoidosis can make you more likely to get the condition yourself.
Source:
Mayoclinic Sarcoidosis
- Gender: Scleroderma is diagnosed far more frequently in women than in men, with women representing around 80 percent of all cases.
- Age: Localized scleroderma generally appears before age 40, while systemic scleroderma most commonly emerges between ages 30 and 50.
- Race: Individuals of European ancestry have a greater chance of developing localized scleroderma compared to African Americans. On the other hand, systemic scleroderma is more prevalent among Choctaw Native Americans and African Americans than in those of European heritage.
- Environmental exposure: Some environmental factors appear to increase scleroderma risk. Men who work with silica have been shown to be more susceptible. Being exposed to particular solvents or taking certain medications might also raise the chances of developing scleroderma.
Source:
Hopkinsmedicine Scleroderma
- Age: The syndrome is more frequently identified in people above 40 years old.
- Sex: Women face a notably higher risk of developing Sjogren’s syndrome compared to men.
- Rheumatic disease: Many people diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome also have another rheumatic condition, like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus.
Source:
- A history of specific bacterial infections, like salmonella or some sexually transmitted infections
- Having family members with spondyloarthritis
- Being male
- Having psoriasis, in the case of psoriatic arthritis
- Having inflammatory bowel disease, which is linked to enteropathic arthritis
Source:
Utswmed Spondyloarthritis
Age
Vasculitis may affect individuals at any point in their lives, but some varieties appear more frequently within particular age groups.
Buerger’s disease primarily affects men under 45, particularly individuals with a history of smoking.
Children are the group most often diagnosed with IgA vasculitis; adults are less frequently affected.
The risk of giant cell arteritis rises after age 50, especially among people in their seventies and eighties.
Kawasaki disease occurs mostly in children younger than five.
Takayasu arteritis is diagnosed most often in women aged 20 to 40.
Family history
Certain forms of vasculitis, such as those listed below, may be inherited within families due to genetic factors:
Behçet’s disease
Granulomatosis with polyangiitis
Kawasaki disease
Lifestyle habits
Lifestyle choices, like those below, can contribute to a higher risk of vasculitis:
Smoking.
Using illegal drugs, such as cocaine.
Medicines
Some medications listed below are associated with an increased risk of vasculitis.
Hydralazine is used to treat high blood pressure.
Levamisole is used to treat infections but is also commonly added to cocaine.
Propylthiouracil is used to treat some thyroid disorders.
Allopurinol is used for gout.
Tumor necrosis factor inhibitors are used to treat certain autoimmune diseases.
Other medical conditions may trigger vasculitis, too.
Autoimmune disorders like lupus, scleroderma, and rheumatoid arthritis may raise the chances of someone developing vasculitis.
COVID-19 infection can raise the risk for some types of vasculitis and might also cause symptoms to return in people who have had vasculitis before, including both children and adults.
Another potential cause of vasculitis is multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a condition that sometimes happens following COVID-19 infection.
Hepatitis B or C infections sometimes trigger vasculitis.
Lymphoma—a cancer affecting blood cells—can also occasionally act as a trigger for vasculitis.
Race or ethnicity
Behçet’s disease is most prevalent among people of Turkish descent and also occurs more often in populations from the Mediterranean, Middle East, Central Asia, China, and Japan. It is uncommon in Northern and Western Europe as well as the United States.
Giant cell arteritis is more common in people of Northern European ancestry.
Kawasaki disease is more common among children of Japanese descent.
Sex
Whether Behçet’s disease is more common in men or women varies by country, with some regions reporting higher rates in men and others in women.
Buerger’s disease is more common in men.
Giant cell arteritis is seen in women at rates between two and four times higher than those observed in men.
Microscopic polyangiitis affects men somewhat more often than women.
Source:
Nhlbi Nih Vasculitis