- MONDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) — The risk of rheumatoid arthritis is
twice as high in women who had a heavy birth weight (more than 10 pounds)
than those with an average birth weight (7 to 8.5 lbs), a new study
finds.

Researchers at the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York City,
analyzed data from more than 87,000 women who took part in the U.S.
Nurses' Health Study between 1976 and 2002. The women were aged 30 to 55
at the start of the study.

During the study period, 619 women were diagnosed with rheumatoid
arthritis. Those with heavy birth weights were more likely to develop
rheumatoid arthritis than those with average birth weights. This
association held true even after the researchers took into account factors
likely to influence birth weight, such as parental smoking, socioeconomic
status, maternal diabetes, age at first period, use of oral contraceptives
or HRT, breast-feeding and weight.

There is no obvious biological explanation for the finding, said the
researchers. But they noted adults with rheumatoid arthritis have abnormal
hormone regulation and this process may be triggered while in the
womb.

The study, published in the current issue of the Annals of Rheumatic
Diseases, supports the fetal origin of disease theory, which states
that certain conditions and diseases in adulthood are programmed by
factors during pregnancy.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about rheumatoid arthritis.