STRESS IN SCOTTSDALE
THEY'RE DRAWN BY THE SUN MD THE AIR, MD LIVE THE CASUAL LIFE IN pieces like Tucson, Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Tempe. Their children and grandchildren come for a very welcome visit. What happens next?
The arthritis that has been in remission for a year or more stages a comeback. Among seniors who have gone at least a year with no health complaints, flare-ups of rheumatoid arthritis after the family visits are now so common they've been designated a medical phenomenon all their own.
Call it The Arizona Syndrome. That's what rheumatologist Sanford Roth, M.D., of the Arthritis Center of Phoenix, does. The syndrome that social stress plays a role In the onset of the poorly understood disease. It is also proof painful that "stress can be both positive and negative."
Long known to be the skin-cancer capital of the Western world, Arizona is likely the arthritis capital as well. It is now home to more than 300,000 with the condition.
