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Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified), Open
Journal article
Life Events, Caregiving, and Risk of Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study
Arthritis care & research (2010), v 75(12), pp 2519-2528
25 May 2023
PMID: 37230960
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Growing evidence suggests psychosocial stressors may increase risk of developing autoimmune disease. We examined stressful life events and caregiving in relation to incident Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study cohort.
The sample of post-menopausal women included 211 incident RA or SLE cases reported within 3 years after enrollment, confirmed by use of disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (i.e., Probable RA/SLE), and 76,648 non-cases. Baseline questionnaires asked about life events in the past year, caregiving, and social support. We used Cox regression models to calculate Hazard Ratios (HR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI), adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, occupational class, education, pack-years smoking and BMI.
Incident RA/SLE was associated with having 3 or more life events (e.g., age-adjusted HR 1.70; 95%CI 1.14, 2.53; p
=0.0026). Elevated HRs were noted for physical (2.48; 1.02, 6.04) and verbal (1.34; 0.89, 2.02) abuse (p
=0.0614), 2 or more interpersonal events (1.23, 95%CI 0.87, 1.73; p
=0.2403), financial stress (1.22; 95%CI 0.90, 1.64), and caregiving 3 or more days per week (1.25; 95%CI 0.87, 1.81; p
=0.2571). Results were similar excluding women with baseline symptoms of depression or moderate to severe joint pain in the absence of diagnosed arthritis.
Our findings support the idea that diverse stressors may increase risk of developing probable RA or SLE in post-menopausal women, supporting the need for further studies in autoimmune rheumatic diseases including childhood adverse events, life event trajectories, and modifying psychosocial and socioeconomic factors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Details
- Title
- Life Events, Caregiving, and Risk of Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study
- Creators
- Christine G Parks - National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Health, Research Triangle Park, NCMary Pettinger - Hutchinson (United Kingdom)Anneclaire J de Roos - Drexel UniversityHilary A Tindle - Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Centers, Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Nashville, TNBrian T Walitt - National Institute of Nursing ResearchBarbara V Howard - MedStar Health
- Publication Details
- Arthritis care & research (2010), v 75(12), pp 2519-2528
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Number of pages
- 10
- Grant note
- N01WH22110 / WHI NIH HHS Z01 ES049028 / Intramural NIH HHS Z99 ES999999 / Intramural NIH HHS
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Environmental and Occupational Health
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001027641600001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85165207635
- Other Identifier
- 991020547835804721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Rheumatology