Risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis: Level of education, tonsillectomy and appendectomy

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorder of flexible joints with unknown etiology, which affects 1% of the world’s population. The aim of this 2010 study was to investigate the association between the level of education, tonsillectomy and appendectomy in the patients’ history with RA. The study was carried out in Hamedan City, in the West of Iran.Patients and Methods: As a patient-control study, information from 128 patients and 130 controls, matched for age and gender, was collected by questionnaires and physical exams with the consent of both patients and controls, followed by an SPSS statistical analysis (Pearson’s Chi-Square test).Results: In patient and control groups, there were 116 and 117 females, respectively, and the rest were males. Statistical analysis showed that there is no significant association between level of education or tonsillectomy with RA (p>0.05), whereas appendectomy was significantly associated inversely with the risk of RA (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Considering previous global investigations on this topic with different results and the results of our study, it seems that more studies are needed to determine the definitive association between level of education, tonsillectomy and appendectomy with the risk of RA.