Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between exposure to cosmetics, often\ncontaining mineral oil, and the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The study was performed against the\nbackground that occupational exposure to mineral oil has recently been shown to be associated with an increased\nrisk for RA in man, and that injection of or percutaneous exposure to mineral-oil-containing cosmetics can induce\narthritis in certain rat strains.\nMethods: A population-based case-control study of incident cases of RA was performed among the population\naged 18 to 70 years in a defined area of Sweden during May 1996 to December 2003. A case was defined as an\nindividual from the study base, who received for the first time a diagnosis of RA according to the 1987 American\nCollege of Rheumatology criteria. Controls were randomly selected from the study base with consideration taken\nfor age, gender and residential area. Cases (n = 1,419) and controls (n = 1,674) answered an extensive\nquestionnaire regarding environmental and lifestyle factors including habits of cosmetic usage. The relative risk of\ndeveloping RA was calculated for subjects with different cosmetic usage compared with subjects with low or no\nusage. Analysis was also performed stratifying the cases for presence/absence of rheumatoid factor and antibodies\nto citrulline-containing peptides.\nResults: The relative risks of developing RA associated with use of cosmetics were all close to one, both for\nwomen and men, for different exposure categories, and in relation to different subgroups of RA.\nConclusion: This study does not support the hypothesis that ordinary usage of common cosmetics as body\nlotions, skin creams, and ointments, often containing mineral oil, increase the risk for RA in the population in\ngeneral. We cannot exclude, however, that these cosmetics can contribute to arthritis in individuals carrying certain\ngenotypes or simultaneously being exposed to other arthritis-inducing environmental agents.
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