This scenario is of a 64 year old female who has retired from working in a factory. At one time she smoked and as an adult reports being overweight most of the time. She is experiencing hand stiffness and pain. She reports using tobacco as part of her history. There are five differential diagnosis that can be operating with these circumstances. The first differential diagnosis is osteoarthritis (OA). This health condition is known to have symptoms that include pain and stiffness. According to Watt (2015), women have special consideration for hand osteoarthritis due to menopause. This is a 64 female who has these considerations. The second differential diagnosis is cardiovascular disease which is appropriate for a 64 year female. According to Shirato and Swan (2010), women are at risk for cardiovascular disease as their symptoms are subtle compared …show more content…
The third differential diagnosis is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a differential diagnosis. Her history of smoking makes this differential diagnosis possible. According to Pleasant et al. (2015), the length of time a person smokes impacts the symptoms, diagnosis, and prevalence of COPD. The fourth differential diagnosis is hypertension as she has been overweight most of her adult live. Skkar, Mikalacki, Cokorilo, and Eric (2015) found that women over 50 had a greater chance of hypertension than other age groups. The fifth differential diagnosis is type 2 diabetes mellitus. Mandal (2014) found that diabetics that were overweight resulted in a 15.5% prevalence. With this, weight, age, and gender are factors to consider in making a differential diagnosis. For this reason, the differential diagnosis must reflect these factors that are