SHEFFIELD, England—English researchers may have found another reason for those with arthritis to toast a glass of wine at dinner. Recent data published in the Oxford Journal Rheumatology suggests the more alcohol consumed by an individual who has rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the less severe the symptoms (doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keq202). Further, the more one partook of alcohol, the more relief they gained. Alcohol was also associated with a reduced the risk of devolving the disorder in the first place.
James R. Maxwell, Isobel R. Gowers and Anthony G. Wilson from Academic Rheumatology Group, Department of Infection and Immunity, University of Sheffield, along with David J. Moore from the Department of Radiology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust ,found the risk of RA decreased according to frequency of alcohol consumption. Non-drinkers were about four times more likely to suffer from RA compared with subjects who consuming alcohol more than 10 days per month (P for trend <0.0001). All measures of RA severity (including CRP levels, 28-joint DAS, pain visual analogue scale, modified HAQ (mHAQ) and modified Larsen score) were inversely associated with increasing frequency of alcohol consumption (P for trend, each <0.0001). After adjustment for potential confounding in a multivariate regression model, frequency of alcohol consumption remained significantly and inversely associated with X-ray damage.
In the study, frequency of alcohol consumption was recorded by 873 patients and 1,005 healthy controls in a self-completed questionnaire. Odds ratios (ORs) for RA risk were calculated according to alcohol consumption, adjusted for age, gender and smoking status. Median values of all RA severity measures were then calculated according to the frequency of alcohol consumption.
RA is the overall second most common form of arthritis following osteoarthritis (OA). RA is a lifelong disease that occurs in about 3 percent of the adult U.S. population. RA is three times more likely to develop in women than men. In RA, the immune system mistakenly attacks the joints, causing inflammation and pain. It most often attacks the joints symmetrically; RA's characteristic chronic inflammation causes deterioration of the joint, pain, limited movement and even deformity.