Study: Environment More Important Than Genetics in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Environmental factors are more important than genetics in the development of rheumatoid arthritis, according to researchers at the Department of Rheumatology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.

The study of 37,338 twins has led researchers to determine that genes are of little importance in the development of rheumatoid arthritis.

No set of identical twins and only two pairs of the non-identical twins studied had rheumatoid arthritis, suggesting that rheumatoid arthritis is no more common in identical twins than non-identical twins..

Twin studies are one of the easiest ways to determine the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors in development of a disease.

Other sources: British Medical Journal