Tea consumption may help reduce risk of rheumatoid arthritis in smokers: Study

The results of the study are as follows:

· Among the cases, we found 57.3% to be ever consumers of tea with 19.7 having a high tea consumption.

· Corresponding figures for the controls were 58.4% ever drinkers with 22.1% high tea consumers.

· High tea consumption had an inverse association to the risk of RA compared to irregular consumption, but the association lost statistical significance in the adjusted model.

· Among non-tea consumers, a protective effect was also observed compared to irregular consumers, but this association did not withstand sensitivity analysis, possibly due to bias.

· In the ACPA-positive group and among current smokers, a protective effect of tea consumption was observed among the high tea consumers

Thus, the researchers concluded that this study suggests a protective effect of high consumption of tea, among smokers and for ACPA-positive RA.

Reference:

Is tea consumption associated with reduction of risk of rheumatoid arthritis? A Swedish case-control study by published in the Arthritis research and therapy.

doi:10.1186/s13075-021-02583-y