The raison d'etre of this website is to provide you with hard scientific information which may help you make informed decisions in your quest for health (so far I have blogged concise summaries of over 1,500 scientific studies and have had three books published).

My research is mainly focused on the effects of cholesterol, saturated fat and statin drugs on health. If you know anyone who is worried about their cholesterol levels and heart disease, or has been told to take statin drugs you could send them a link to this website, and to my statin or cholesterol or heart disease books.

David Evans

Independent Health Researcher

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Statins are associated with a 71% increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis

This study was published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2012 May;71(5):648-54

Study title and authors:
Use of statins is associated with an increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis.
de Jong HJ, Klungel OH, van Dijk L, Vandebriel RJ, Leufkens HG, van der Laan JW, Cohen Tervaert JW, van Loveren H.
Laboratory for Health Protection Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21979000

The study investigated whether statin use was associated with an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. The study included 508 patients aged 40 years or older with a first-time diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis who were compared with 2,540 subjects without rheumatoid arthritis.

The study found that statin use was associated with a 71% increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis.