THURSDAY, Aug. 10, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Certain occupations related to potential noxious airborne agents are associated with increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in workers, according to a study published online Aug. 10 in Arthritis Care & Research.
Anna Ilar, from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues analyzed 3,522 cases and 5,580 controls from the Swedish population-based Epidemiological Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis case-control study to examine the correlation between occupation and the risk of anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)+ RA or ACPA− RA. Information on work history and lifestyle factors was obtained using a questionnaire.
The researchers found that bricklayers and concrete workers, material handling operators, and electrical and electronics workers had increased risk of ACPA+ RA among men (odds ratios, 2.9 [95 percent CI, 1.4 to 5.7], 2.4 [95 percent CI, 1.3 to 4.4], and 2.1 [95 percent CI, 1.1 to 3.8], respectively). Bricklayers and concrete workers and electrical and electronics workers had increased risk of ACPA− RA (odds ratios, 2.4 [95 percent CI, 1.0 to 5.7] and 2.6 [95 percent CI, 1.3 to 5.0], respectively). Assistant nurses and attendants had a moderately increased risk of ACPA+ RA among women (odds ratio, 1.3; 95 percent CI, 1.1 to 1.6), while no occupations correlated significantly with ACPA− RA.
"Mainly occupations related to potential noxious airborne agents were associated with an increased risk of ACPA+ or ACPA− RA, after adjustments for previously known confounders," the authors write.
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