Rheumatoid Arthritis: Does Taking Sex Hormones Help Women?

Perimenopausal and early postmenopausal rheumatoid arthritis women patients taking exogenous sex hormones in the form of contraceptive pills or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) had an improved likelihood of remission, according to a study published in the journal Rheumatology. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune inflammatory condition that affects up to two percent of the population worldwide and is primarily genetic. It mainly causes joint disease but can also affect the whole body, including organs.

Gender Gap: How Rheumatoid Arthritis Differs in Women?

Compared with males, rheumatoid arthritis is more aggressive in women and the prognosis is worse. The peak age of onset of rheumatoid arthritis among females is 45-55 years, corresponding with a drop in estrogen when women typically enter a peri-menopausal period, where their periods become irregular.

Furthermore, at the onset of menopause, there is an increase in pro-inflammatory proteins. Early menopause, or menopause that occurs in women under 45 years, increases the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, and the incidence also sharply spikes in post-menopausal women.

Conversely, younger women with rheumatoid arthritis who fall pregnant experience a 50 percent decline in inflammatory activity. Keeping all these known facts in mind, researchers conducted a new study.

In this study, researchers linked remission, reproductive status, and sex hormone use, after assessing data from 4474 female rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with the anti-inflammatory drug Tocilizumab and other immuno-suppressive medications.

Women May Achieve Remission in Rheumatoid Arthritis if They Take Sex Hormones

RA patients using HRT or oral contraceptives in combination with the drugs prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis had a much greater likelihood of remission. Post-menopausal women, comprising 63 percent of the participants, of whom only eight percent were using HRT, were less likely to achieve RA remission compared to pre-menopausal women.

Remission rates were higher in some groups of women who were taking HRT or oral contraceptives at the same time they were taking medicines for RA, and in fact, RA remission was twice as high in peri-menopausal women.

Though it is too early to say that HRT and oral contraceptives have a protective effect against rheumatoid arthritis, the study has revealed a potential connection.

The decision to use HRT is a complex one. It does improve menopause symptoms, but it can modify the risk of some cancers and cardiovascular diseases. This study suggests it could also be beneficial for women with rheumatoid arthritis, but the decision to use it requires an in-depth discussion with a general practitioner because each woman has different risk factors.



Source-Eurekalert