Key clinical point: Children of mothers, but not fathers, with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were predisposed to the risk of developing multiple mental disorders.
Major finding: Children of mothers with RA had a significantly higher risk for autism spectrum disorders (odds ratio [OR] 1.49; 95% CI 1.01-2.20), bipolar disorder (OR 1.47; 95% CI 1.20-1.81), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (OR 1.37; 95% CI 1.17-1.60), and major depressive disorder (OR 1.20; 95% CI 1.05-1.37), with no risk for these disorders observed in children of fathers with RA.
Study details: This was a retrospective cohort study including 23,981 RA-parent-child pairs and age-/sex-matched 239,810 non-RA-parent-child pairs.
Disclosures: This study received research grants from Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Yen
Tjing Ling Medical Foundation, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Chiu HJ et al. A nationwide study of the risks of major mental disorders among the offspring of parents with rheumatoid arthritis. Sci Rep. 2022;12:4962 (Mar 23). Doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-08834-5