According to MSNBC, a study by the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute in Oakland California found that rheumatoid arthritis may hinder conception in some women. The study published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism, included 68,000 Danish women who became pregnant between 1996 and 2002, of those 112 had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis before pregnancy.
The lead researcher Dr. Damini Jawaheer said that women who are trying to become pregnant are often told to stop using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs such as methotrexate and infliximab as some can cause birth defects. The research team said it is unclear if the condition or stopping medication causes a flare-up in rheumatoid arthritis that somehow hinders a woman’s ability to conceive.
In general, women with rheumatoid arthritis take longer to conceive and are less likely to get pregnant within 2 months of trying. During the study, 48 percent of women without RA conceived within 2 months of trying, while women with RA had a lower percentage of a successful conception within 2 months of trying. When the researchers took into account age, body weight and other factors, women with RA were more likely to need more than a year to conceive.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an auto-immune disease occurring when the immune system mistakenly attacks tissue in the joints, leading to inflammation, pain and progressive joint damage. The disease is more common in women than men.
