The risk for rheumatoid arthritis is not large — about 1 percent of the population is affected — but a new study suggests a surprising factor that seems to increase that risk: living near a highway.
Environmental pollutants, including cigarette smoke, have been shown to raise the risk, and this suggests that other factors that increase inflammation, like car and truck exhaust, may also be associated with the disease.
In this study, which appears online in Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers examined the records of 90,297 women enrolled in a larger investigation of women’s health from 1976 to 2004. Using the location of their homes in 2000, the scientists calculated the distance each lived from roads with more than two lanes of traffic. A total of 687 women in the investigation developed arthritis.
After controlling for age, cigarette smoking, oral contraceptive use and many other variables, researchers found that the women who lived within 55 yards of a large road had a 31 percent increased risk for rheumatoid arthritis compared with those living 220 or more yards away.
Does this mean people should not live near highways?
“I wouldn’t advise anyone to move on the basis of one study,” said Jaime E. Hart, the lead author and a research fellow at Harvard. “There could be a lot of other things that distance to roadway means besides exposure to pollutants.”
I find this study to be very interesting Lynn. My RA hit when I returned to school to further my art degree. The art building was old and the ventilation system was caked with who knows what. I was exposed to all sorts of heavy metals and petroleum products in sculpture as well. I believe environment plays a huge role in AI diseases.