Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

The association between gravidity, parity and the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Chen, Winnie M.Y.; Subesinghe, Sujith; Muller, Sara; Hider, Samantha L.; Mallen, Christian D.; Scott, Ian C.

The association between gravidity, parity and the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Thumbnail


Authors

Winnie M.Y. Chen

Sujith Subesinghe



Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To establish if gravidity and parity associate with the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to establish if this effect is influenced by the time elapsed since pregnancy/childbirth, the number of pregnancies/childbirths, and serological status, through systematically reviewing the literature and undertaking a meta-analysis. METHODS: We searched Medline/EMBASE (from 1946 to 2018) using the terms "rheumatoid arthritis.mp" or "arthritis, rheumatoid/" and "pregnancy.mp" or "pregnancy/" or "parity.mp" or "parity/" or "gravidity.mp" or "gravidity/" (observational study filter applied). Case-control/cohort studies that examined the relationship between parity/gravidity and the risk of RA in women were included. Studies reporting effect size data for RA in ever vs. never parous/gravid women as ORs/RRs with 95% confidence intervals were included in a meta-analysis. Other relationships (i.e. risk by pregnancy/childbirth numbers) were analysed descriptively. RESULTS: Twenty studies (from 626 articles) met our inclusion criteria, comprising 14 case-control (4799 cases; 11,941 controls) and 6 cohort studies (8575 cases; 2,368,439 individuals). No significant association was observed in the meta-analysis of studies reporting the risk of RA in ever vs. never parous women (OR 0.91; 95% CI 0.80-1.04) and ever vs. never gravid women (OR 0.86; 95% CI 0.46-1.62). No consistent evidence of a relationship between the number of pregnancies/childbirths and RA risk was seen. No significant association was observed between being pregnant, or in the immediate post-partum period, and the risk of developing RA. CONCLUSION: Our systematic review does not support the concept that gravidity and parity are associated with the risk of RA development.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 9, 2019
Publication Date 2019-09
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism
Print ISSN 0049-0172
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 50
Issue 2
Pages 252-260
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semarthrit.2019.09.003
Keywords Arthritis; Rheumatoid; Parity; Gravidity; Meta-Analysis
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semarthrit.2019.09.003
PMID 31530401

Files




You might also like



Downloadable Citations