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Elucidating the environmental risk factors for rheumatic diseases: An umbrella review of meta‐analyses
Author(s) -
Belbasis Lazaros,
Dosis Vasilios,
Evangelou Evangelos
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of rheumatic diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1756-185X
pISSN - 1756-1841
DOI - 10.1111/1756-185x.13356
Subject(s) - medicine , gout , osteoarthritis , overweight , meta analysis , observational study , obesity , rheumatism , confidence interval , physical therapy , epidemiology , rheumatoid arthritis , environmental health , pathology , alternative medicine
Aims Although rheumatic diseases constitute a leading cause of disability, the environmental risk factors for these diseases are not clarified. In the present study, we aim to systematically appraise the epidemiological credibility of the environmental risk factors for rheumatic diseases. Methods We systematically searched PubMed to capture meta‐analyses of observational studies on environmental risk factors for the most prevalent rheumatic diseases. For each association, we estimated the summary effect size estimate, the 95% confidence and prediction intervals, and the I 2 metric. We further examined the presence of small‐study effects and excess significance bias. Results Overall, we identified 30 eligible papers describing 42 associations. Thirty‐three associations were statistically significant at P < 0.05, whereas 13 of them were statistically significant at P < 1 × 10 −6 . Thirty‐two associations had large or very large between‐study heterogeneity. In 12 associations, evidence of small‐study effects and/or excess significance bias was found. Six risk factors (nine associations) presented convincing or highly suggestive evidence of association: smoking and pack‐years of smoking for rheumatoid arthritis; BMI (per 5 kg/m 2 increase) for gout and hip osteoarthritis; alcohol consumption for gout; BMI (overweight vs lean, obese vs lean), knee injury and participation in heavy work for knee osteoarthritis. Conclusion Our umbrella review indicated that a narrow range of risk factors has been examined for rheumatic diseases. Current evidence strongly supports that smoking, obesity, alcohol consumption, knee injury, and work activities are associated with risk for at least one rheumatic disease.