ACR Meeting Abstracts

ACR Meeting Abstracts

Abstract Number: 1570

Working in Cold Environment Is Associated with Increased Risk of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results from a Swedish Population-Based Case-Control Study

Pingling Zeng1, Lars Klareskog2, Camilla Bengtsson3 and Lars Alfredsson4, 1Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, 2Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, 3Karolinska Institutet, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden, 4Section of Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Meeting: 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Date of first publication: September 28, 2016

Keywords:

Session Information

Date: Monday, November 14, 2016

Session Title: Rheumatoid Arthritis – Human Etiology and Pathogenesis - Poster II

Session Type: ACR Poster Session B

Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM

Background/Purpose: To investigate whether working in cold environment is associated with an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (overall), anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)-positive RA and ACPA-negative RA.

Methods: Data from the Swedish population-based case-control study (Epidemiological Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis (EIRA)) involving 3650 incident cases and 5838 controls were analyzed. Study participants were asked through questionnaires whether they had ever worked in cold indoor or cold outdoor environment. Individuals who were exposed to working in cold environment were also asked to report their exposure duration and frequency. Only exposure up to the year when the first disease symptom appeared was considered. Exposed subjects were compared with unexposed subjects by calculating odds ratios with 95% confidence interval (CI) using logistic regression.

Results: When compared with subjects who had never worked in cold environment, the odds of developing RA (overall), ACPA-positive RA and ACPA-negative RA among those who had ever worked in cold environment were 1.5 (95%CI, 1.4-1.7) ,1.6(95%CI,1.4-1.8) and 1.4(95%CI,1.2-1.6) respectively. These results did not change substantially after adjusting for age, sex, residential area, cigarette smoking, educational level, body mass index, alcohol consumption, occupational class and occupational physical workload. The risk of developing RA increased with increasing cumulative dose of working in cold indoor environment (P for Trend <0.0001) but not working in cold outdoor environment.

Conclusion: Working in cold environment is observed to be associated with increased risk of developing both ACPA-positive and ACPA-negative RA. A dose-response relationship is found between working in cold indoor environment and risk of developing RA.

Disclosure: P. Zeng, None; L. Klareskog, None; C. Bengtsson, None; L. Alfredsson, None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Zeng P, Klareskog L, Bengtsson C, Alfredsson L. Working in Cold Environment Is Associated with Increased Risk of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results from a Swedish Population-Based Case-Control Study [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016; 68 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/working-in-cold-environment-is-associated-with-increased-risk-of-developing-rheumatoid-arthritis-results-from-a-swedish-population-based-case-control-study/. Accessed March 23, 2023.

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