The key difference between arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis symptoms is that the arthritis is an inflammation of the joint or joints resulting in pain and/or disability, joint swelling, and stiffness and its symptoms differ depending on the form of arthritis. On the other hand, rheumatoid arthritis is one type of inflammatory arthritis that causes synovial inflammation and its symptoms include a progressive, symmetrical, peripheral polyarthritis that occurs over a period of a few weeks or months. It occurs in patients between 30 and 50 years of age and further, most of the patients complain of pain and stiffness of small joints of the hands and feet that worsen in the morning. The affected joints are warm, tender and swollen.
What is necessary to emphasize here is that the most distinct difference between arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis is the fact that rheumatoid arthritis is a subset of arthritis rather than a separate disease entity.
