Birth length and perinatal exposures and rheumatoid arthritis risk in the E3N cohort
Authors' conclusion
In this large prospective cohort, most perinatal factors were not associated with RA risk in adulthood. A signal related to larger birth length emerged only in selected analyses based on more precise exposure assessment and should be interpreted cautiously.
Study context
- Population
- French women of the E3N cohort (enrolled 1990; perinatal data collected 2002)698 incident rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cases
- Participants
- 78,473 women
- Exposure
- Perinatal factors and incident RA
- Outcome
- Incident RA (validated using a specific questionnaire)
Methodological detailsCox proportional hazards models informed by a directed acyclic graph
- Cox proportional hazards models informed by a directed acyclic graph
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Incident RA by perinatal factor
Adjusted hazard ratio (95% CI)
Large birth length
1.32(0.97–1.78)
Preterm birth
1.34(0.92–1.94)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Incident RA, large birth length (sensitivity analysis restricted to women with continuous birth data)
| aHR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Large birth length | 1.98 (1.23–3.19) | |
| 0.20.5125Adjusted hazard ratio (log scale) |
- No such signal detected using categorised self-reported measures
Original publication
Birth length and perinatal exposures and rheumatoid arthritis risk in the E3N cohort. RMD Open. Published 9 April 2026. doi:10.
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