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Hormone replacement therapy and incident arthritis
1Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa. wilkkat@statcan.ca
Health Reports
|January 5, 2000
Summary
About 8% of women aged 38+ developed new arthritis cases between 1994-1997. Long-term hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use was linked to double the odds of developing arthritis.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Public Health
- Rheumatology
Background:
- Arthritis incidence impacts public health significantly, particularly in aging populations.
- Understanding risk factors like hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is crucial for prevention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate the incidence of new-onset arthritis in women aged 38 and older between 1994/95 and 1996/97.
- To investigate the association between HRT use and the development of new arthritis diagnoses.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the National Population Health Survey (Canada) household component.
- Analyzed a weighted sample of 4.3 million women aged 38+, excluding those with arthritis in 1994/95 (n=2,673).
- Employed weighted bivariate frequencies for incidence estimation and multivariate logistic regression for association analysis, controlling for confounders.
Main Results:
- Approximately 8% (338,600) of women aged 38+ were newly diagnosed with arthritis within the two-year study period.
- Current HRT users with five or more years of use showed doubled odds of incident arthritis compared to non-users.
- These findings remained significant after adjusting for age, medical visits, and body mass index.
Conclusions:
- Long-term HRT use may be a risk factor for developing arthritis in women aged 38 and older.
- Further research is warranted to elucidate the mechanisms behind the HRT-arthritis association.