Parental addictions are associated with arthritis of their adult children

 Arthritis in adulthood is linked to parental addictions during childhood, claims a new study published in the International Journal of Population Research.

Scientists from the University of Toronto examined a group of 13,036 adults and found that 20.4% had been diagnosed with arthritis. Investigators found that 14.5% of all respondents reported having at least one parent whose drug or alcohol use caused problems while they were under the age of 18 years and still living at home.

This suggests that people whose parents were addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to have arthritis. After adjusting for age, sex, and race, parental addictions were associated with 58% higher risk of arthritis.

“We had anticipated that the adult offspring’s health behaviors such as smoking, obesity and alcohol consumption might explain the strong link between parental addictions and arthritis, however we did not find this to be the case,” explains study co-author, Jessica Liddycoat. “Even after adjusting for these adult health behaviors, as well as income, education, a history of childhood maltreatment and mood and anxiety disorders, we found that parental addiction was still a statistically significant factor associated with 30% higher odds of arthritis.”

More research is needed because the current study was based on a survey, so it’s unknown if the relationship between parental addictions and arthritis is causal.

“However, there is ample evidence from other studies to support the provision of efficacious interventions to treat addictions,” says study co-author Maria Stefanyk. “Although we do not know if these interventions will impact the development of arthritis in adulthood, we do know that children do much better on a wide range of outcomes when parents are no longer abusing drugs and alcohol.”

To read the original research click here.