Even 'light' smoking may raise women's arthritis risk

Conclusion This research indicates that a relatively low level of smoking (one to seven cigarettes per day) is associated with an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis compared with women who had never smoked. This adds further knowledge to previous research that has suggested that cigarette smoking is directly linked to a higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. While this study is relatively robust and its results believable, it does have limitations that should be considered. It was not clear how many women dropped out of the study. If this was a large proportion of the women who started, it could significantly bias the results of the study. The study also only recruited women. The same risk pattern may not have been seen if the study had recruited men, who are at lower risk of developing the condition than women. Similarly, the size of the risk differences between different smoking behaviours may be slightly different in men than women. Further research is needed to establish whether this is the case. Another drawback is that women were recruited from just two Swedish counties. While no ethnicity data was reported, it is likely they were fairly similar ethnically, and it could be that different ethnicities may have different risk profiles for developing rheumatoid arthritis. This means that the results may differ if the study was repeated in a more ethnically diverse population. This relatively robust study suggests that smoking can significantly inc...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news