Skip to main content

Some NLM-NCBI services and products are experiencing heavy traffic, which may affect performance and availability. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For assistance, please contact our Help Desk at info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases logoLink to Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
. 1993 May;52(5):322–326. doi: 10.1136/ard.52.5.322

Rheumatoid arthritis, HLA identity, and age at menarche.

C M Deighton 1, H Sykes 1, D J Walker 1
PMCID: PMC1005043  PMID: 8323378

Abstract

OBJECTIVE--To determine whether women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) had differences in obstetric and gynaecological histories when compared with sisters without RA (controls) METHODS--Ninety eight RA discordant sister pairs, 36 of whom were identical for histocompatibility locus antigen (HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-Cw) types, were asked to recall their age of menarche, duration of use of contraceptive pill, pregnancy history, and age of menopause. RESULTS--The 98 siblings with RA had an older mean age of menarche (13.90 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 13.56 to 14.24) years) than their sisters (13.49 (95% CI 13.22 to 13.76) years; mean difference within pairs 0.41, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.73 years, paired t test t = 2.54, p = 0.013). When the pairs were divided into identical HLA and non-identical HLA groups, the first showed no significant difference (mean difference 0.17 (95% CI -0.40 to 0.73) years), whereas the second did (mean difference 0.55 (95% CI 0.16 to 0.94) years, t = 2.80, p = 0.007). A multiple regression analysis to predict differences in menarche in the non-identical HLA sibling pairs failed to show any demographic or reproductive confounding variables. In 19 RA concordant sibling pairs, the seven HLA identical pairs had similar ages of menarche, whereas the 12 non-identical HLA pairs had interpair differences that narrowly missed significance (p = 0.054). All other obstetric and gynaecological variables were not significantly different within the pairs. CONCLUSIONS--The interpretations of these results are that either delayed menarche may predispose to or act as a marker of RA, or HLA linked genes are important in determining the age of menarche irrespective of disease state. This study fails to support a significant role for other obstetric and gynaecological variables in RA.

Full text

PDF
322

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Casey V. A., Dwyer J. T., Coleman K. A., Krall E. A., Gardner J., Valadian I. Accuracy of recall by middle-aged participants in a longitudinal study of their body size and indices of maturation earlier in life. Ann Hum Biol. 1991 Mar-Apr;18(2):155–166. doi: 10.1080/03014469100001492. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Deighton C. M., Wentzel J., Cavanagh G., Roberts D. F., Walker D. J. Contribution of inherited factors to rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 1992 Feb;51(2):182–185. doi: 10.1136/ard.51.2.182. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Del Junco D. J., Annegers J. F., Coulam C. B., Luthra H. S. The relationship between rheumatoid arthritis and reproductive function. Br J Rheumatol. 1989;28 (Suppl 1):33–45. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/xxviii.suppl_1.33. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Forest M. G., De Peretti E., Bertrand J. Hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal relationships in man from birth to puberty. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 1976 Sep;5(5):551–569. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.1976.tb01985.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Franceschi S., Fassina A., Talamini R., Mazzolini A., Vianello S., Bidoli E., Cizza G., La Vecchia C. The influence of reproductive and hormonal factors on thyroid cancer in women. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique. 1990;38(1):27–34. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gerencer M., Tajić M., Kerhin-Brkljacić V., Kastelan A. An association between serum testosterone level and HLA phenotype. Immunol Lett. 1982 Mar;4(3):155–158. doi: 10.1016/0165-2478(82)90028-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hazes J. M., Dijkmans B. A., Vandenbroucke J. P., de Vries R. R., Cats A. Pregnancy and the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 1990 Dec;33(12):1770–1775. doi: 10.1002/art.1780331203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hazes J. M., Dijkmans B. C., Vandenbroucke J. P., de Vries R. R., Cats A. Reduction of the risk of rheumatoid arthritis among women who take oral contraceptives. Arthritis Rheum. 1990 Feb;33(2):173–179. doi: 10.1002/art.1780330204. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hazes J. M. Pregnancy and its effect on the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 1991 Feb;50(2):71–72. doi: 10.1136/ard.50.2.71. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hazes J. M., Silman A. J., Brand R., Spector T. D., Walker D. J., Vandenbroucke J. P. Influence of oral contraception on the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis in female sibs. Scand J Rheumatol. 1990;19(4):306–310. doi: 10.3109/03009749009102538. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hazes J. M., Silman A. J. Review of UK data on the rheumatic diseases--2. Rheumatoid arthritis. Br J Rheumatol. 1990 Aug;29(4):310–312. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/29.4.310. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hazes J. M., van Zeben D. Oral contraception and its possible protection against rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 1991 Feb;50(2):72–74. doi: 10.1136/ard.50.2.72. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hernández Avila M., Liang M. H., Willett W. C., Stampfer M. J., Colditz G. A., Rosner B., Roberts W. N., Hennekens C. H., Speizer F. E. Reproductive factors, smoking, and the risk for rheumatoid arthritis. Epidemiology. 1990 Jul;1(4):285–291. doi: 10.1097/00001648-199007000-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Iványi P., Hámpl R., Stárka L., Micková M. Genetic association between H-2 gene and testosterone metabolism in mice. Nat New Biol. 1972 Aug 30;238(87):280–281. doi: 10.1038/newbio238280a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. MacMahon B., Trichopoulos D., Brown J., Andersen A. P., Cole P., deWaard F., Kauraniemi T., Polychronopoulou A., Ravnihar B., Stormby N. Age at menarche, urine estrogens and breast cancer risk. Int J Cancer. 1982 Oct 15;30(4):427–431. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910300408. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Masi A. T. Population studies in rheumatic disease. Annu Rev Med. 1967;18:185–206. doi: 10.1146/annurev.me.18.020167.001153. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Moisan J., Meyer F., Gingras S. A nested case-control study of the correlates of early menarche. Am J Epidemiol. 1990 Nov;132(5):953–961. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115738. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Ollier W., Spector T., Silman A., Perry L., Ord J., Thomson W., Festenstein H. Are certain HLA haplotypes responsible for low testosterone levels in males? Dis Markers. 1989 Jul-Sep;7(3):139–143. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Phillips D. I., Lazarus J. H., Butland B. K. The influence of pregnancy and reproductive span on the occurrence of autoimmune thyroiditis. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 1990 Mar;32(3):301–306. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.1990.tb00870.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. ROPES M. W., BENNETT G. A., COBB S., JACOX R., JESSAR R. A. 1958 Revision of diagnostic criteria for rheumatoid arthritis. Bull Rheum Dis. 1958 Dec;9(4):175–176. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Spector T. D., Ollier W. E., Perry L. A., Silman A. J. Evidence for similarity in testosterone levels in haplotype identical brothers. Dis Markers. 1988 Jun;6(2):119–125. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Spector T. D., Roman E., Silman A. J. The pill, parity, and rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 1990 Jun;33(6):782–789. doi: 10.1002/art.1780330604. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Spector T. D., Silman A. J. Is poor pregnancy outcome a risk factor in rheumatoid arthritis? Ann Rheum Dis. 1990 Jan;49(1):12–14. doi: 10.1136/ard.49.1.12. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Treloar S. A., Martin N. G. Age at menarche as a fitness trait: nonadditive genetic variance detected in a large twin sample. Am J Hum Genet. 1990 Jul;47(1):137–148. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES