Hormonal and reproductive factors, such as the length of fertile life or the number of children, can affect the likelihood of the disease. Much also depends on bad habits, such as smoking and extra pounds
L'rheumatoid arthritis a disease much more widespread among women, which affects three to four times more often than men. And part of the blame seems to lie in hormonal factors and exquisitely feminine reproductive health: entering menopause too early, before the age of 45, but also following hormone replacement therapy or having had four or more children seems to significantly increase the probability of getting ill.
Large study
He proved it an investigation conducted on over 220 thousand British people followed for twelve years, whose data was available in the UK Biobank database: over three thousand women, equal to 1.5 percent of the population studied, developed rheumatoid arthritis. Analyzing the association between the probability of disease and any hormonal and reproductive factors, the researchers observed that women who went through menopause before the age of 45 would have a 46 percent higher risk to get ill compared to those who have reached the end of their childbearing years at 50-51 years of age; the risk increases by 39 percent in those who have had a reproductive life of less than 33 years in total (it is no coincidence that there is a slight increase in risk even in women with a later menarche, after the age of 14) and by 46 percent in those who followed one hormone replacement therapy, while it increases by 40 percent if you have had a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus). Having many children, four or more, would increase the probability, but only slightly.
The researchers underline that this is an observational study, therefore not able to establish cause and effect relationships, but also that hormonal and reproductive factors affect the risk of rheumatoid arthritis, therefore they must be studied in depth to understand if they can suggest more targeted interventions to mitigate the risk of disease in selected women.
Choices that help
Everything needs to be explored further, therefore, and above all these are elements that do not depend on one's will, if we exclude the choice of the number of children; instead, to reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis a lot can be done with lifestyle habits. A genetic predisposition can influence the probability, but today it is clear that it also cigarette smoking or obesity they can be very negative, so quitting smoking or returning to your ideal weight are certainly two protective and virtuous choices. The same goes for attention to oral hygiene given that even the periodontitis, severe inflammation of the gums, associated with a greater risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Finally, a healthy diet and an active lifestyle help to maintain the microbiota, or intestinal bacterial flora, in the best possible balance: various studies in fact seem to suggest that alterations in the quantity and quality of intestinal bacteria are associated with a greater risk of some autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.
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February 17, 2024 (modified February 17, 2024 | 08:54)
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