Health & Fitness - Work can hasten rheumatoid arthritis

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Work can hasten rheumatoid arthritis

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- Swedish scientists say an employee's working environment can play a part in the development of rheumatoid arthritis.

Scientists at Stockholm's Karolinska Institutet say it has long been known environmental factors such as smoking and drinking alcohol -- as well as heredity -- increase the risk of the disease.

The study, published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, suggests stress and a heavy work load, as well as having little control over outcomes, increase the chances of developing rheumatoid arthritis.

Study leaders Lars Alfredsson and Lars Lareskog call this psychosocial workload "low decision latitude."

"We've uncovered clear correlations between the disease and jobs in which one cannot control one's own situation," Alfredsson says in a statement.

Alfredsson presented some of the findings at a research seminar in Stockholm arranged by the Karolinska Institutet.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 09/27/2008

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