Studies suggest link between smog, joint disease (rheumatoid arthritis)

[The Straight Story]

Studies suggest link between smog, joint disease

Exposure to certain types of air pollution is associated with an increased risk for the painful joint disease known as rheumatoid arthritis, new research suggests.

This link is strongest for sulfur dioxide, one of the six most common air pollutants in the United States, according to the findings from two studies scheduled to be presented Wednesday at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting, in Chicago.

In the studies, investigators looked at 2,092 rheumatoid arthritis patients and more than 93,000 people without the disease in the United States and Sweden, and used their home addresses to estimate their long-term exposure to several common air pollutants, both gaseous (for example, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide) and particulate (soot or dust).

There was no evidence of increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis associated with particulate air pollution. But increasing exposure to sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen in the 10 and 20 years prior to onset of rheumatoid arthritis was associated with increased risk of the disease among the Swedish participants, the investigators found.

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011-11-07/Studies-suggest-link-between-smog-joint-disease/51106442/1