Associated Conditions

Raynaud's can be a disease entirely by itself known as Primary Raynaud's or it can be secondary to other conditions.

Conditions Associated with Scleroderma
Associated conditions are those which appear statistically related, but do not have a clear cause or effect relationship. Whereas the complications are caused by scleroderma, and underlying causes may be causes of scleroderma. People with scleroderma may be more likely to get an associated condition. Whether they are causes of, caused by, or simply coincidentally related to scleroderma is not always clear.

Complications of scleroderma are secondary conditions, symptoms, or other disorders that are caused by scleroderma. In many cases the distinction between symptoms of scleroderma and complications of scleroderma is unclear or arbitrary.

Risk factors for scleroderma are factors that do not seem to be a direct cause of the disease, but seem to be associated in some way. Having a risk factor for scleroderma makes the chances of getting a condition higher but does not always lead to scleroderma. Also, the absence of any risk factors or having a protective factor does not necessarily guard you against getting scleroderma.

It is always possible that you may have two diseases rather than one. For any disease, there are usually other diseases that are related to it or associated with it. Obviously, the underlying conditions cause the disease and complications are caused by the disease, and so both are clearly related to the original disease. However, there are often associated or related conditions that neither cause nor are caused by the original condition.

Associated conditions are statistically related, but do not have a clear cause or effect relationship. Having a disease may make it more likely that you will have a related disease but the reason for an association with a second disease can vary greatly.