14 DAY TRIAL // A study recently published in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy says that those who smoke – even if just a few cigarettes throughout the course of an entire day – have high chances of developing rheumatoid arthritis at some point in their lives.
Although those who eventually manage to kick the habit are better off than those who continue to smoke, it appears that their rheumatoid arthritis risk is still significantly higher than it is for non-smokers.
More precisely, it appears that people who used to smoke have elevated risks of developing said medical condition even 15 years after their having put out the last cigarette. EurekaAlert informs us that, in the case of women, 1-7 daily cigarettes up rheumatoid arthritis risk by a whopping 100%.
These conclusions were reached after a team of researchers looked into the medical records and smoking behavior of 34,000 women between the ages of 54 and 89, all of whom were suffering with said medical condition.