- Between 10% and 33% of the global population lives with rheumatic disease.
- Previous studies have identified potential risk factors for rheumatic disease, including age, smoking, and environmental triggers.
- Researchers from the Mayo Clinic are reporting that sinusitis is associated with a 40% increased risk of a subsequent diagnosis of rheumatic disease, especially in the five to 10 years before rheumatic disease symptoms begin.
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Types of rheumatic diseases include gout, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and lupus.
Some potential risk factors for developing a rheumatic disease may include age, gender, family history, smoking, environmental triggers, and obesity.
Now researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota have found that sinusitis — inflammation of the body’s
Their study was published in the journal RMD Open.
Dr. Cynthia Crowson, the lead statistician in the Division of Clinical Trials and Biostatistics with a joint appointment in the Division of Rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic and lead author of this study, told Medical News Today her team decided to look for a link between sinusitis and rheumatic disease because smoking has been linked to the development of rheumatic diseases as well as air pollutants and other conditions involving the respiratory system — nose, throat, and lungs.
“Sinusitis is related to these factors and the association between sinusitis and rheumatic diseases has not been well studied,” Crowson explained. “Factors that are associated with developing a disease may hold the key to preventing (the) development of the disease in the…
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