Smoking Worsens Inflamed Joints in Patients At Risk for RA

In individuals at high-risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA), both smoking and age increased the risk of inflammatory joint signs, with smoking at a young age associated with the highest risk, according to a recent study.

In order to examine whether genetic, environmental, and serologic RA risk factors are associated with inflammatory joint signs in high-risk patients, researchers conducted a study of 966 first-degree RA relatives. Environmental factors (smoking, BMI and education) were assessed at baseline, along with the presence of inflammatory joint sighs, defined as swollen or tender joints at sites typical of RA.
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Of the participants, 262 individuals who did not have inflammatory joint signs at baseline. After 2 years of follow-up, these 262 individuals underwent a second analysis.

Overall, smoking 10 or more pack-years was associated with inflammatory joint signs at baseline (OR 1.59, 95%CI 1.09-2.32) and at 2 years (OR 2.66, 95%CI 1.01-7.03), compared to individuals who never smoked.

Participants who were less than 50 years old with more than 10 pack-years had the highest risk (OR 4.39, 95%CI 2.22-8.66) compared to those who never smoked.

“In a high-risk cohort of first-degree relatives, smoking and age were associated with both prevalent and incident IJS at sites typical for RA. Further prospective investigations of the factors affecting the transitions between pre-clinical RA phases are warranted,” they concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Sparks JA, Change SC, Deane KD, et al. Associations of smoking and age with inflammatory joint signs among first-degree relatives without rheumatoid arthritis: results from the studies of the etiology of RA. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016 Feb 11 [epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1002/art.39630.