Physical function greatly affects the quality of life of every person. After going through menopause, most women experience a great decline in physical function and those who have rheumatoid arthritis have been observed to suffer more. Women have three times greater chance of getting rheumatoid arthritis than men, and even more severe disability.

Previous studies have seen the link between hormonal or reproductive events, and RA in women. Patients experience changes in their rheumatoid arthritis during these events. RA is seen to decrease during pregnancy, however, it develops or flares up during the post-partum period. Women who go through menopause earlier are also more likely to develop RA compared to those who experience it at the normal age or later.

Due to these observations, studies were done to investigate the link, and the results indicate that menopause does have a huge impact on the rate and severity of functional decline in women who are RA sufferers, and it also greatly affects the progression of the disease.

Source: Elizabeth Mollard, Sofia Pedro, Eliza Chakravarty, Megan Clowse, Rebecca Schumacher, Kaleb Michaud. The impact of menopause on functional status in women with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology, 2018