Routine Vaccinations Do Not Increase Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk

Main Category: Arthritis / Rheumatology
Also Included In: Immune System / Vaccines
Article Date: 06 Jul 2010 - 3:00 PDT

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Routine vaccinations do not increase the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis indicates a study of more than 4,000 adults, published online in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.

Routine jabs for conditions such as flu and tetanus are often blamed for priming the body's immune system to turn on itself and trigger the development of long term inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

The Swedish researchers base their findings on 2,000 people aged between 18 and 70, all of whom had confirmed rheumatoid arthritis, and more than 2,000 randomly selected healthy people matched for age, sex, and locality.

The team looked at the vaccination histories of all the participants to see if there were any differences between those receiving routine jabs within five years of the appearance of RA symptoms and those who did not develop the condition.

The specific vaccinations included in the study were those for flu; tetanus; diphtheria; tick borne encephalitis; hepatitis A, B, and C; polio; and pneumococcus.

Participants also provided a blood sample to check for a specific genotype that is a major genetic risk factor for RA, and known as the HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (SE) allele.

Almost one in three (31%) of all participants had been vaccinated during the five year time frame, but no differences were seen between the two groups for any of the vaccinations given. A slight difference was seen for the tick borne encephalitis jab, but this was not statistically significant.

Vaccination did not seem to increase the risk of RA in smokers - smoking is a known risk factor for RA - or HLA-DRB1 SE allele carriers. Nor did the cumulative number of vaccinations have any impact on the likelihood of developing RA.

"This result does not rule out the possibility that vaccinations given earlier in life, or vaccinations that are rare, may trigger the development of RA," say the authors. But they go on to say: "It is unlikely that vaccinations in general should be considered a major risk factor for RA."

"This has practical implications for what advice on vaccinations should be given to the general population, and, in particular, to groups at risk of RA, such as children of patients with RA," they conclude.

Common vaccinations among adults do not increase the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis: results from the Swedish EIRA study Ann Rheum Dis Online First 2010; doi 10.1136/ard.2010.129908

Source:
British Medical Journal

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