This attack can take the form of severe, painful and distructive inflammation, such as happens in rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, vasculitis, polymyalgia rheumatica, and many other arthritis-related disorders. There are also several non-arthritic autoimmune disorders, such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis and Addison's Disease. Autoimmune disorders can affect any organ or system in the body. Our aging population means that this figure could double in the next 20 years. Infants as young as 18 months have been diagnosed with the disease.
Arthritis is expensive.