According to a report from Healio, individuals who live close to the equator may be at risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis at a younger age. In a new study published by Bergstra et al in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, investigators used the METEOR registry to analyze the data of 37,981 patients with rheumatoid arthritis from 93 hospitals in 17 countries. They then evaluated the sex, rheumatoid factor status, smoking status, and presence of anti–citrullinated protein antibodies of each patient as well as the health expenditures per capita, life expectancy, gross domestic product, and income levels of each country included in the study. The investigators found that for each per-degree increase in a countries’ latitude, the average age at diagnosis increased by 0.23 years (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.095–0.38) and resulted in a difference of about 10 years for the age of disease onset. When the investigators accounted for socioeconomic status, they found that for every per-degree increase in latitude, the average age at diagnosis changed from 0.23 years to 0.051 (95% CI = –0.37 to 0.38). “[Individuals] in low-income countries will not only get [rheumatoid arthritis] at a younger age—with an inherently longer disease course and a worse prognosis—but they also face poorer health-care conditions and social support, which will further deteriorate their prognosis,” commented study author Sytske Anne Bergstra, PhD, of Leiden University Medical Center.
August 03, 2023