“Women with inflammatory arthritis who were currently using oral contraceptives or who had used them in the past, presented with better patient-reported outcomes within the first two years of arthritis,” the study authors wrote in the August issue of the journal Arthritis Care & Research.MORE:11 Highly Effective Solutions For Sciatica
For the study, the researchers analyzed data from 1,301 women aged 30 to 60 who had been diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis within the previous six months. After 2 years, the 273 women with early inflammatory arthritis who were taking or had ever taken oral contraceptives reported fewer problems with functioning and mood and a lower level of disease activity than women who’d never taken hormones. They were less likely to have been treated with glucocorticoids and 4 times less likely to have needed steroids. (Find more great health tips with your FREE trial of Prevention + 12 FREE gifts.) “One of the strengths of this study is that it looked at patient-related outcome measures—they asked the patients how they felt about their symptoms,” explains rheumatologist, Jamal A. Mikdashi, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “It showed that their function and their pain improved, which is very interesting, but in terms of other values we pay attention to—like inflammatory markers—the women on oral contraceptives didn’t improve.” It’s unclear how birth control pills work to ease symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in women, but hormones are known to play a role. “Estrogen’s effect on the brain is big,” Mikdashi says. Studies show that arthritis symptoms are less pronounced during pregnancy, when estrogen is high, and more pronounced during peri- and post-menopause, when estrogen is low. “In general, estrogen seems to mitigate rheumatoid arthritis, but that’s based only on observation at this point,” Mikdashi says. “It’s an interesting observation, though, because it changes the equation—from looking at estrogen as a risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis to looking at estrogen as a treatment modality.” MORE: 10 Cancer Symtoms Most People Ignore The study authors point to prior research linking estrogen use to psychological wellbeing, and suggest that even a subtle hormone shift may change neurotransmitter activity and reprogram central nervous system function, a dynamic seen in other auto-immune diseases. For example, an FDA trial found that DHEA, a hormone that leads to the production of estrogen (and androgen), helped minimize symptoms of the auto-immune disorder lupus. Then again, Mikdashi adds, most medications impact the central nervous system to some extent. MORE: 5 Signs You’re Not Getting Enough Vitamin D There were some limitations to this study, including that it’s unknown how long the women were taking birth control pills, which formulation of the pill they took or its dosage, or the severity of their symptoms. “Maybe patients who used those birth control pills had milder disease,” Mikdashi says. “Maybe birth control will help in that case but if your disease is more severe, you might need stronger medication.” Mikdashi would like to see larger studies with more patients and patients from more diverse backgrounds before considering birth control pills as a treatment for arthritis in women. In the meantime, it’s not a good idea for women with early arthritis to start taking the pill on the chance that it will help, because for this group, the known risks are pronounced. “Women with autoimmune disorders are at higher risk of deep vein thrombosis,” Mikdashi says. “The risk is increased especially with rheumatoid arthritis because patients tend to be less mobile, so the blood clot danger is greater.” Some women with autoimmune disorders can use birth control pills at lower dosages, he adds, but talk to your doctor about how safe it is for you.
