Investigating the Relationship Between Overexposure to Ultraviolet Radiation and Rheumatoid Arthritis Using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015–2016 Data

Background Research on the association between sunburn and autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis is scarce. To date, no study has looked at the relationship between over-exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation indicated by sunburn and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We addressed this gap using the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database following a hypothesis that no relationship exists between sunburn and rheumatoid arthritis. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed using the United States NHANES data cycle from 2015 to 2016. Participants without rheumatoid arthritis and sunburn data have been excluded from this study. Chi-square test and survey-weighted logistic regression were conducted to study the strength of the association between overexposure to UV radiation indicated by sunburn and RA. Some RA risk factors have been included in the study to identify effect modifiers and confounders for building the parsimonious model. Results Based on the odds ratio (OR), individual overexposure to ultraviolet radiation had no higher or lower chance of reporting a diagnosis of RA [OR=0.87, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.46 - 1.64]. Age was identified as a confounder. The Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) when accounting for age was AOR=1.09, 95% CI: 0.59 - 2.03. In the final model, there was not enough statistical evidence to conclude an association between sunburn and RA after adjusting for age. Conclusions Using the NHANES data to analyze the relationship between overexposure to UV radiation indicated by sunburn and RA; the analyses results suggested that sunburn may not be associated with higher or lower odds of developing rheumatoid arthritis.