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Children whose parents have RA had mortality rates similar to other children
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Children of parents with rheumatoid arthritis had mortality rates similar to children with healthy parents, according to results of a nationwide cohort study.
“Our findings are reassuring, since the same cohort of exposed children had excess morbidity for a large number of diseases,” Ane L. Rom, PhD, from Copenhagen University Hospital, and colleagues wrote.
Using the medical birth registry, investigators assessed all children born in Denmark between 1977 and 2008 (n = 1,917,723) with an average follow-up of 16 years. Children were defined as exposed if their parent had a discharge diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Of the children, 13,556 had mothers with an RA diagnosis and 6,330 had fathers with RA. Compared with unexposed children, children exposed to RA had no significantly increased risk for all-cause death, which remained true for subgroups of maternal-linked and paternal-linked RA, as well as those with parents who were diagnosed with RA multiple times. The risk did not reach significance after restriction to firstborn children or to children who died during follow-up, or with the addition of paternal age or gestational age to the model. – by Will A. Offit
Disclosure: The researchers report they received support from the NIH, the Danish Council for Independent Research and the Augustinus Foundation.
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