Genes, Smoking and Rheumatoid Arthritis

According to Arthritis and Rheumatism, a new group of genes has been discovered that may play a role in people suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Along with these findings, researchers found that smoking could increase the risk of developing this type of arthritis if someone has this particular group of genes.

When people think of the risks of smoking, they usually think of cancer. Not many people think that it could lead them to suffer from arthritis. For many years, people have suffered from arthritis and just chalked it up to another annoying medical condition that really did not have much of a cause except for “bad genes”.  Now with this research coming out, people can also look at their smoking habits as a possible explanation for the pain.

The thing that people need to be aware of is that just because they may have the group of genes for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), it doesn’t necessarily mean they will get it.  It means that there is a chance, more so than someone without the group of genes.  The chance just increases if someone with the genes smokes, but again, it doesn’t mean the person will absolutely suffer from RA.

So should you quit smoking? If the medical consequences of smoking bothers you enough, you probably just answered that question for yourself. If hearing about the possibility of suffering from cancer, RA or other medical problems doesn’t scare you…keep smoking.  You have the power of information now, so apply it to your life any which way you choose!

(Photo Credit: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/w-gas060109.php)

June 4th, 2009 by Marcelina Hardy | Posted in Genetic Testing, Genetics and Society | (0)