Wine Information Council
11 april 2014
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Alcohol consumption and risk of incident rheumatoid arthritis in women: A prospective study

Objective. To evaluate the association of alcohol consumption with risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in two large prospective cohorts, the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Nurses' Health Study II (NHS II).

Methods. The NHS established in 1976 that enrolled 121,701 US female registered nurses. The NHSII began in 1989, enrolling 116,430 female nurses. Lifestyle and environmental exposures have been collected through biennial questionnaires. Alcohol consumption was assessed with a food frequency questionnaire completed every 4 years. The incident RA cases were identified using the connective tissue disease screening questionnaire and a medical record review. Separate Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) after adjusting for potential confounders in NHS and NHSII. Pooled HR from two cohorts was estimated using a DerSimonian and Laird random-effect model.

Results. Among 1.90 million years of person-time from 1980 to 2008, 580 incident RA cases were diagnosed in NHS, and among 1.78 million years of person-time from 1989 to 2009, 323 incident RA cases were diagnosed in NHSII. Compared to no use, the pooled multivariable adjusted HR for alcohol use of 5.0-9.9 grams/day (g/d) was 0.78 (95% CI, 0.61-1.00). For seropositive RA cases, the association appeared stronger (HR= 0.69, 95% CI: 0.50-0.95). In addition, Women who drank beer 2-4 times a week had a 31% decreased risk compared with women who never drank beer.

Conclusion. We found a modest association between long-term moderate alcohol drinking and reduced risk of RA. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings in other populations.

(c) 2014 American College of Rheumatology

Additional Info

  • Authors

    Lu B.; Solomon D.H.; Costenbader K.H.; Karlson E.W.

  • Issue

    Arthritis Rheumatol.

  • Published Date

    11 april 2014

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