Important features on history, and predisposition to inflammatory rheumatological diseases
A person’s predisposition to specific inflammatory rheumatological diseases might be influenced by their:
- constitutional features
- age and gender (eg gout is unlikely in premenopausal females)
- family history (eg the various forms of spondyloarthritis share a genetic link with human leucocyte antigen B27 [HLA-B27])
- ethnicity (eg systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE] is more common in Asian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Polynesians and Polynesian New Zealanders; gout is more common in Polynesians and Polynesian New Zealanders)
- socioeconomic factors
- body mass index (BMI) (eg obesity increases the risk of osteoarthritis and rheumatological diseases)
- tobacco smoking (eg rheumatoid arthritis is more common in people who smoke)
- alcohol consumption (eg gout is more common in people with high alcohol consumption)
- low socioeconomic status and overcrowding (eg acute rheumatic fever has a high prevalence in rural and remote communities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)
- recent travel (eg travel-related infections such as viral arthritis including Ross River fever or reactive arthritis associated with enteric infection)
- sexual history (eg reactive arthritis associated with sexually acquired infections)
- medications
- aromatase inhibitors are associated with arthralgias
- statins are associated with myalgias.