Crowson CS, Matteson EL, Myasoedova E et al. Arthritis Rheum 2011;63:633–9.
The lifetime risk for women of developing an autoimmune inflammatory disease is one in 12, and the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis is nearly one in 25, higher than previously believed.
The lay press frequently reports that one in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Expressing the lifetime risk in this way may help individuals understand their risk better than prevalence rates – which may underestimate risk for diseases with increased mortality, and incidence rates – which provide only a yearly risk. This study was designed to identify the lifetime risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as well as other inflammatory autoimmune rheumatic diseases (systemic lupus, Sjögren’s syndrome, psoriatic arthritis [PsA], ankylosing spondylitis [AS], polymyalgia rheumatica, and giant cell arteritis [GCA]).