What is Collagen Disease?

Collagen diseases belong to rheumatoid arthritis, which includes various diseases such as systemic scleroderma and systemic lupus erythematosus. These diseases are named as collagen diseases because their occurrence is closely related to the pathological changes of collagen fibers in the connective tissue. The characteristics of the onset of these diseases often include unexplained fever, rash, joint pain and swelling, and other manifestations.

1. What are collagen diseases? Rheumatoid arthritis is also a type of collagen disease. In addition, collagen diseases also include systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic scleroderma, polymyositis and dermatomyositis, nodular polyarteritis, mixed connective tissue disease, Wegener's granuloma, etc. When these diseases occur, pathological changes occur in the blood vessels and connective tissue of all organs in the body. In the past, American scholars found that the most significant pathological changes of collagen fibers occurred in the connective tissue of patients, so these diseases were named as collagen diseases. However, it is now found that not only the collagen fibers change during the onset of these diseases, but also the entire connective tissue changes. Therefore, collagen diseases are also known as connective tissue diseases. Diseases similar to collagen diseases include Sjogren's syndrome, Behcet's disease, allergic vasculitis, etc.

2. Clinical characteristics of collagen diseases: (1) unexplained fever; (2) appearance of rash without itching; (3) joint pain and swelling; (4) muscle pain; (5) increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate.