Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jul 22:9:909879.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.909879. eCollection 2022.

What is the impact of sex hormones on the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis?

Charles Raine  1 , Ian Giles  1
Affiliations
Review

What is the impact of sex hormones on the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis?

Charles Raine et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common inflammatory rheumatic disease and has a female predominance of around 3:1. The relationship between sex hormones and RA has been of great interest to researchers ever since Philip Hench's observations in the 1930's regarding spontaneous disease amelioration in pregnancy. Extensive basic scientific work has demonstrated the immunomodulatory actions of sex hormones but this therapeutic potential has not to date resulted in successful clinical trials in RA. Epidemiological data regarding both endogenous and exogenous hormonal factors are inconsistent, but declining estrogen and/or progesterone levels in the menopause and post-partum appear to increase the risk and severity of RA. This review assimilates basic scientific, epidemiological and clinical trial data to provide an overview of the current understanding of the relationship between sex hormones and RA, focusing on estrogen, progesterone and androgens.

Keywords: androgens; estrogen; pathogenesis; pregnancy; progesterone; rheumatoid arthritis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Cross M, Smith E, Hoy D, Carmona L, Wolfe F, Vos T, et al. . The global burden of rheumatoid arthritis: estimates from the global burden of disease 2010 study. Ann Rheum Dis. (2014) 73:1316–22. 10.1136/annrheumdis-2013-204627 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Goemaere S, Ackerman C, Goethals K, De Keyser F, Van der Straeten C, Verbruggen G, et al. . Onset of symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in relation to age, sex and menopausal transition. J Rheumatol. (1990) 17:1620–2. - PubMed
    1. Jethwa H, Lam S, Smith C, Giles I. Does rheumatoid arthritis really improve during pregnancy? A systematic review and metaanalysis. J Rheumatol. (2019) 46:245–50. 10.3899/jrheum.180226 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Smolen JS, Aletaha D, McInnes IB. Rheumatoid arthritis. Lancet. (2016) 388:2023–38. 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30173-8 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Smolen JS, Aletaha D, Barton A, Burmester GR, Emery P, Firestein GS, et al. . Rheumatoid arthritis. Nat Rev Dis Primers. (2018) 4:18001. 10.1038/nrdp.2018.1 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources