Key clinical point: Passive smoking exposure in childhood is associated with adult-onset seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA), suggesting that early life exposures influence RA risk.
Major finding: After adjusting for confounders, maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with all-incident RA (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.25; 95% CI 1.03-1.52) and seropositive RA (aHR 1.34; 95% CI 1.06-1.70), whereas childhood parental smoking was associated with seropositive RA (aHR 1.41; 95% CI 1.08-1.83).
Study details: This was an analysis of prospectively collected data from the Nurses’ Health Study II, involving 90,923 women.
Disclosures: This work was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Rheumatology Research Foundation, and National Institutes of Health. K Yoshida and J Sparks reported receiving research support and consultancy fees from various sources.
Source: Yoshida K et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021 Aug 18. doi: 10.1002/art.41939 .