A new study conducted by the researchers from Howard Amital of the Sheba Medical Centre, Israel has linked rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with breathing disorder, COPD. The study was presented at the Eular, the 2011 European Congress of Rheumatology.

The researchers have claimed that people who have rheumatoid arthritis are twice as likely to suffer from COPD as healthy people. Rheumatoid arthritis causes pain, swelling and stiffness in joints, but the disease can also affect other body parts, such as the mouth and lungs.

The link was established after conducting a comparative study on 15,766 people with rheumatoid arthritis and 15,340 healthy people who were part of a control group. The results of the study concluded that occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis was significantly higher in people with COPD, as compared to the people in the healthy control group. The results of the study also took into account the lifestyle habits and disease risks including income levels.

Dr. Amital of the Sheba Medical Centre in Israel said, “we hope that the results of our study prompts new research into potential links between altered genetic and autoimmune processes in the two conditions”.