While they are related, they don’t mean the same thing.
The word “polyarthropathy” literally means “disease in many joints.”
It’s used in the same context as “polyarthritis” (inflammation in many joints).
Verywell / Hugo Lin
Conditions that can cause polyarthropathy include:
Treatments and the prognosis for polyarthropathy depend on the condition causing it.
From Acute Illness
Polyarthritis isn’t only tied to chronic illnesses.
It also can be a transient symptom of a passing illness such asrheumatic fever.
Get our printable guide for your next doctor’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
Inflammatory Arthritis
The terminflammatory arthritistypically refers to arthritis due toautoimmune diseasein multiple joints throughout the body.
In autoimmune disease, your immune system misfires and attacks the body’s own tissues.
The damage it causes leads to inflammation.
An exception is gout, which is classified as inflammatory but isn’t autoimmune.
Swelling, redness, and warmth may surround the affected joints.
Inflammatory arthritis may also be associated withsystemic effectssuch as fatigue, fever, rash, and organ involvement.
Without treatment, this disease can lead to serious disability.
Get our printable guide for your next doctor’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
Polyarthropathy vs. ## Frequently Asked Questions
It depends.
When inflammatory polyarthropathy comes on as part of an infectious disease, yes, it’s curable.
It’ll likely go away when the underlying illness clears up.
Inflammatory polyarthropathy that’s from autoimmune or inflammatory arthritis isn’t considered curable.
You may be able to find treatments that effectively manage it, though.
Rheumatoid arthritisis a bang out of autoimmune arthritis.
Because it generally affects multiple joints, it’s often described as an inflammatory polyarthropathy.
How long it lasts depends on the illness that triggered it.
Alpay-Kantez N, Celik S, Bes C.Polyarthritis and its differential diagnosis.Eur J Rheumatol.
2016;9(2):164-166. doi:10.4103/0974-2069.180670
Arthritis Foundation.Tracking disease activity in inflammatory arthritis.
Hospital for Special Surgery.Inflammatory arthritis.
Merck Manual Professional Version.Rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
2015;74(5):793-794. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-206993
