Rheumatoid Arthritis: 3 New Risk and Exacerbating Factors

Author(s):

Menopause, obesity, and bacterial infection all have a negative impact on RA, according to 3 recent studies.

References:

1. Mollard E, Pedro S, Chakravarty E, et al. The impact of menopause on functional status in women with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology. 2018 Jan 29. doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kex526.2. Schulman E, Bartlett SJ, Schieir O, et al. Overweight and obesity reduce the likelihood of achieving sustained remission in early rheumatoid arthritis: results from the Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort Study. Arthritis Care Res. 2017 Nov 30. doi:10.1002/acr.234573. Sharp RC, Beg SA, Naser SA. Polymorphisms in protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 and 22 (PTPN2/22) are linked to hyper-proliferative T-cells and susceptibility to Mycobacteria in rheumatoid arthritis. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2018 Jan 25;8:11. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2018.00011.