Rheumatic diseases in the U.S.S.R

Despite our inability to precisely prognosticate disease, accumulation of knowledge about risk factors allows us to form a real basis for attempts at primary prevention of rheumatic disease. Because rheumatic diseases are multifactorial in nature, it may be suggested that the more factors an individual has the higher is the risk of disease. Relative risk values are certain to have a known limitation, since they are not independent. In addition, the number of risk factors may be significantly more than that known today. Increasing our knowledge in disease etiology and pathogenesis will definitely increase the number of risk factors. At the same time, available data may serve as a basis for developing a system for individual and group prognosis, the latter being to a certain degree tentative for the majority of diseases. All factors affecting disease development and course are divided into the controllable and the uncontrollable. The majority of the factors mentioned--especially, the environmental--are controllable ones. So the challenge facing practitioners and scientists involves development of a comprehensive system of recommendations aimed at elimination or maximum lessening of unfavorable risk factors, which is the only real basis for primary rheumatic disease prophylaxis.