Disease progression in relation to pre-onset parity among women with rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often ameliorates during pregnancy and flares postpartum, but the relationship of pregnancy and childbirth to RA prognosis is unclear. We examined RA severity for association with parity prior to RA onset and asked whether time from birth (latency) and/or the mother's HLA genotype influenced results.

A cohort study was conducted of 222 women previously identified in a prospective study of newly diagnosed RA, who returned for follow-up evaluation a median of 8 years later. Stratified analyses using Mantel-Haenszel methods were conducted to evaluate 5 RA severity measures based on hand and wrist radiographs, physical exams, and Health Assessment Questionnaires for association with parity.

Overall, we observed little evidence of altered risk of progression to severe RA in relation to pre-onset parity, adjusting for RA onset age and time to follow-up. Stratifying parous women who had only live births by latency (<15 years/15+ years) showed no difference in risk of severe RA compared to nulligravid women. Live birth deliveries were significantly protective for women with 0 but not for those with 1 or 2 copies of the RA risk-associated HLA-DRB1 shared epitope sequence for erosion score (RR 0.26 95% CI 0.09-0.89) and joint count (RR 0.28 95% CI 0.09-0.87).

We observed little evidence of difference in severe RA by pre-onset parity overall. However, among women not predisposed to RA by possessing the risk-associated HLA genotype, parous women who had only live births had lower risk of progression to severe RA as measured by erosion score and joint count.