Three Clinical Presentations Prevalent at 18-25 Years

Running head: THREE CLINICAL PRESENTATIONS PREVALENT AT 18-25 YEARS 1
THREE CLINICAL PRESENTATION PREVALENT AT 18-25 YEARS
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THREE CLINICAL PRESENTATION PREVALENT AT 18-25 YEARS 2
Introduction
In human growth and development, there are stages in which some diseases or conditions
are commonly diagnosed among a particular age set. Some maladies are associated with the
elderly for example dementia, youths such as the sexually transmitted disease and in children
immature or immature immunity-related diseases (Danese & McEwen, 2012). In this task, three
clinical presentations common among youths between 18 and 25 years were considered.
Scoliosis (Konieczny, Senyurt & Krauspe, 2012), ulcerative colitis (UC) (Menon, Goyal, Nihal
& Reddy, 2013) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (Mina & Brunner, 2013) are among
the often presented clinical conditions between these ages. The first part of this task will provide
a summary of the three diseases as scoliosis will be delved in the last section.
SLE is an autoimmune disorder which affects various body systems. In particular, the
disease affects the skin leading to a distinctive rash resembling butterfly wings unfolding across
both cheeks of the face (Reynolds, 2018). These signs may occur abruptly or progress over time
which may be from mild to severe, temporal or permanent. Other signs and symptoms include
fatigue, fever, painful joints, photosensitive skin lesions, shortness of breath, dry eyes,
headaches, and fingers that change to blue or white during cold; the Raynaud’s phenomenon (Al
Daabil et al., 2014). If not controlled early, the disease can progress and affect other vital body
organs such as the heart, kidneys and the brain. The condition is prevalent tor women than men.
This scoliosis affects a high number of indigenous Australians being diagnosed with it than their
Caucasian counterparts (Mackie et al., 2015). The autoimmune reactions can be attributed to
genetic, immunological and environmental factors. Drugs such as isoniazid, viral infections,
hormonal factors and exposure to sunlight also trigger the disease. Depending on the severity of
the symptoms using various tests such as analysis of blood samples, the disease can be managed

THREE CLINICAL PRESENTATION PREVALENT AT 18-25 YEARS 3
by multiple medications such as immunosuppressive drugs like cyclophosphamide (Bertsias et
al., 2012).
UC is an inflammatory bowel disease similar to Crohn’s disease in that both occur as a
result of irritations that don’t arise from infections. The only difference between the two is that
UC inflammation is confined to both sides of the large colon continuously extending
circumferentially from the rectum (Clark-Snustad & Lee, 2016). These inflammations destroy
the colorectal mucosa forming ulcers which can be classified into proctitis, left-sided, extensive
and pancolitis by the extent of inflammation. The disease is characterized by bloody diarrhea,
mucus discharge from the rectum, lower abdominal cramping as well as fecal urgency. UC is a
long term disease with both symptomatic and asymptomatic periods whereby systemic
symptoms present as malaise, tiredness, fever, and body weight loss (Williamson & Snyder,
2014). Stress, being related to someone with UC and use of isotretinoin are the significant risk
factors for the disease (Alhusayen et al., 2013). Treatment of UC includes medications to
increase remission periods, surgery, psychosocial and nutritional interventions.
Scoliosis is a condition that manifests in the sideways or lateral curvature of the spine.
Such curves are physically examined. They can result in pain due to the inflammation of the
ligaments while in some cases of more than 100-degree curvature respiratory difficulties can be
observed. The causes are not known hence idiopathic scoliosis. The disease can also be as a
result of nonstructural factors such as muscle spasms or structural elements in case of an
abnormal spine (Canavese & Dimeglio, 2013).
Scoliosis

THREE CLINICAL PRESENTATION PREVALENT AT 18-25 YEARS 4
The word scoliosis originates from the Greek word “skolios” meaning crooked. The word
was adopted to describe the abnormal curvature of the spine to ten or more degrees on a coronal
radiographic image observed when the patient is standing (Hresko, 2013). An individual with an
unhealthy backbone as seen from the back or the front appears straight with an ‘S’ or ‘C’ shape
at the neck, upper and the lower back instead of a straight ‘I.’ However, in some cases, the spine
shows some lateral shift from the organic frontal axis. The spine is important in preserving the
body’s normal alignment to facilitate proper functioning in movement and lifting of things as
well as bearing the body’s weight. The sideways curvature of the spine is as a result of the
twisting of the vertebrae which may cause the deflection of the ribs which affects the lungs. The
disruption of the normal alignment of the spinal column may lead to the sticking out of the
shoulder blade or an uneven waist which can be observed which may affect the neurological,
hormonal and nutritional systems (Baron et al., 2015).
Musculoskeletal disorders commonly arise during growth and development of children
and adults since at this stage the bone structure is still developing. These disorders are
multifactorial comprising of for example poor sitting posture, wearing of overweight backpacks
causing uneven distribution of weighing on the spinal column causing scoliosis (Panicker &
Sandesh, 2014). The cause for the most widely recognized type of scoliosis; idiopathic scoliosis,
is obscure, yet there have been genetic variables found that are available (Emans, 2014).
Scoliosis is a dynamic malady. In its beginning periods, a mellow shift and rib distortion
are distinguished. As it advances more vertebrae rotate, making the ribs clump together on one
side of the chest and spread separated on the contrary side. The ailment can be present at early
stages during bone development asymptomatically and manifest later due to back pain usually at
the age of 18 to 25 years of age. Most cases happen in young ladies and become clear amid the