2) Patient’s family medical history
The patient’s family medical history is extremely important especially in diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is majorly believed to run in families and is caused due to genetic factors. If you have a family member who has rheumatoid arthritis, your risks of developing RA is increased by three folds. People should consider that the closer they are to the patient with RA, the more they are susceptible to getting rheumatoid. Having a relative with RA is not confirmative proof that you will develop arthritis. Doctors usually ask patients questions about their family medical history, but if he did not, do not hesitate to tell him whether you have a relative who has RA or not.
