New Study Shows Female Smokers Are Twice At Risk of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis
Date: 23rd April 2013
A new study reveals that women who smoke just one cigarette on a daily basis are twice at risk of suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Daniela Di Giuseppe, the head researcher and her team concludes that regardless of whether the women puffed on one or up to seven cigarettes per day, the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, is the same. Rheumatoid arthritis is a specific disorder of the joints that causes inflammation and ultimately destroys the joints.
For the study, the researchers collected data from 34,101 Swedish women who belonged to the age group of 54-89 years. Among these women, 219 had rheumatoid arthritis, 60 were ex-smokers, 80 were existing smokers and the remaining ones had never smoked cigarettes.
The researchers found out that in comparison to non smokers, the risk of rheumatoid arthritis was still there, even 15 years after a female smoker quits smoking. During the study, it also became apparent that after a certain period of time, the risk was considerably reduced among ex-smokers. The female smokers who stopped smoking 15 years back had a 30 percent reduced risk of suffering from rheumatoid arthritis when compared to smokers who had quit smoking one year before the data was accumulated.
The study appeared in the journal "Arthritis Research & Therapy”.
Source: shine.yahoo.com |
