In other news, Swedish researchers recently found that children who contract a serious infection within their first year have an increased risk of developing arthritis.  The study, published online in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases followed people in a longitudinal study born between 1973 and 2002.  They found that infections requiring admission to a hospital during the first year of life were found to double the chances of rheumatoid arthritis as a young adult, with an even greater influence on developing seronegative rheumatoid arthritis. Serious infections also nearly doubled the risk of developing juvenile idiopathic arthritis.  They also found that low birth-rates, premature delivery or a longer than average pregnancy affected the risk of developing RA to a lesser degree.  Other studies have found links between high birth weight, childhood living conditions and exposure to maternal smoking. 

What I haven't seen in the new reports about this study was information about the types of infections and geographic regions of these children.  Since other studies have focused on air pollution and respiratory infections, it would be interesting to know if more of these children lived in industrial areas and whether the illnesses requiring hospitalization were brought on by respiratory ailments.

Perhaps some scientists, taking all of these studies together, will be able to focus further research at regions where incidence of RA is rising and will be able to begin to identify specific environmental factors, such as types of air pollution, in order to influence future health and environmental policies more toward preventing exposure and minimizing risk and away from treatment of RA after it develops.