Women without children diagnosed earlier

Nulliparous women are diagnosed with chronic arthridides an average of 5.2 years before parous women, researchers from Norway report. The retrospective study analysed 557 women aged 18-45 years from the Norwegian Disease Modifying Antirheumatic Drug (NOR-DMARD) study, who were all diagnosed with chronic arthritides before the age of 45 years. Information about parous status was confirmed through linking the NOR-DMARD patient cohort with the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. After adjusting for smoking, length of education and age, the average age at diagnosis was 36.2 years for the nulliparious women, and 41.1 years for the parous women (p<0.001). Rheumatoid factor was present in 37.1% of the nulliparous women compared with 41.1% of the parous women (p=0.21), which, although not statistically significant, the researchers said may indicate that the parous women studied may possess a higher disposition to developing arthritis than the nulliparous women. Dr Marianne Wallenius, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway, who led the study, said that arthritic conditions tend to occur more commonly in women, particularly those of childbearing age. “Some symptoms of RA, for example, can improve during pregnancy, but our study indicates that the processes of pregnancy and childbearing could delay the onset of arthritic conditions. Continued examination of the complex interactions between the female reproductive processes and the epidemiology of RA could yield further interesting insights,” she said....