Rheumatoid arthritis may be a bigger risk for big babies

THOSE BIG 10-pound newborns that look like future Hall of Famers may be at an increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis. In a study of 84,077 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study from 1976 to 1992, Dr. Lisa Mandl at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and colleagues found that people who weighed more than 10 pounds at birth were twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis as those who were of normal weight -- 7.1 to 8.5 pounds -- at birth.

By Janet Cromley

July 7, 2008