Could Past Infections Reduce RA Risk?

Infections of the stomach and urinary tract could be associated with reduced risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a recent study.

In order to better understand this relationship, researchers evaluated 2831 RA patients and compared their incidences of urological, respiratory, and gastrointestinal infections, as well as antibiotic use from the previous 2 years with 3570 healthy controls.
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Researchers discovered that patients who reported gastroenteritis, urinary infection, and genital infections had a 29%, 22%, and 20% decreased risk of developing arthritis, respectively and having all of the 3 infections in within 2 years was associated with a 50% reduction in the risk of RA. However, RA was not associated with any respiratory infection including pneumonia, sinusitis, and tonsillitis.

“The results indicate that infections in general do not affect the risk for RA, but that certain infections, hypothetically associated with changes in the gut microbiome, could diminish the risk,” said the authors of the study.

The complete study is published in the February issue of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

-Michelle Canales

Reference:

Sandberg MEC, Bengtsson C, Klareskog L, et al. Recent infections are associated with decreased risk of rheumatoid arthritis: a population-based case-control study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015 February [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-206493.