Noncontraceptive hormones and rheumatoid arthritis in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women
J. P. Vandenbroucke, J. C. Witteman, H. A. Valkenburg, J. W. Boersma, A. Cats, J. J. Festen, A. P. Hartman, O. Huber-Bruning, J. J. Rasker and J. Weber
The use of noncontraceptive hormones before onset of joint disease was
compared between 490 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with
rheumatoid arthritis and a control group of 659 women with soft-tissue
rheumatologic disorders and/or osteoarthritis. Both groups were sampled
randomly from the attendees of five rheumatologic clinics. A negative
association was found between the onset of rheumatoid arthritis and the
previous use of noncontraceptive hormones (odds ratio, 0.32; 95% confidence
interval, 0.16 to 0.64). This association persisted on univariate and
multivariate control of potentially confounding variables and on subgroup
analysis. The protective effect of oral contraceptives on the development
of rheumatoid arthritis was confirmed.