Rheumatoid arthritis link to cats
7 February 2001
An Australian study has found that people who have a genetic susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis, and have had close contact with cats in their childhood, are significantly at risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in later life.
This latest research was published in the October 2000 issue of Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism and builds on an earlier study conducted in 1996 published in the same journal.
The researchers in South Australia initially studied 122 people with RA and 114 control subjects of similar age to determine if animals or animal products might be the reservoir for an environmental trigger for RA that acts in childhood.
The team at that stage concluded that there was a relationship between the extent of prior exposure to cats and RA and a weaker association between prior exposure to birds, budgerigars (parakeets) in particular, and RA.
Director of Rheumatology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital Professor Les Cleland, who headed the study, said that, for the recent study, his team revisited the people who took part in the initial research and found that for those carrying the RA susceptibility genes, intensive exposure to cats early in life (those at puberty were at greatest risk) had more than 24 times the risk of developing RA later in life than those not exposed.
Last Reviewed: 09 February 2001
- 1. Semin Arthritis Rheum 1996 Apr; 25(5): 308-17
2. Semin Arthritis Rheum 2000 Oct; 30(2): 111-20
