Obesity 'driving rising arthritis risk in recent generations'

The rising prevalence of obesity is leading to an increase in the frequency of rheumatoidarthritis cases. This is according to a new study from the University of Toronto and Krembil Research Institute in Canada, which has indicated that weight problems are cancelling out the positive impact of other lifestyle factors when it comes torheumatoid arthritis risk. Arthritis risk increasing over time The study analysed data from 8,817 people taking part in the Canadian National Population Health Survey between 1994 and 2011 to determine whether successive generations were affected by different arthritis prevalence and risk factors. Four generational cohorts were analysed in this study: those born in the years during and just before World War II from 1935 to 1944, older baby boomers born between 1945 and 1954, younger baby boomers born from 1955 to 1964, and Generation X children born between 1965 and 1974. Results published in the medical journal Arthritis Care& Research showed that more recent cohorts experienced a successively greater prevalence of arthritis, with any positive impact that increasing education and income over time might have had in reducing the arthritis prevalence shown to be counterbalanced by increasing body mass index (BMI). The evidence also pointed to an earlier age of arthritis onset for obese individuals compared to those of normal weight, further underlying the role excess weight plays. Devi Sagar, research liaison manager at Arthritis Research UK, sa...
Source: Arthritis Research UK - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: news