Journal article
Association of Increased Sun Exposure Over the Life-course with a Reduced Risk of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Rachel C Chiaroni-Clarke, Jane E Munro, Angela Pezic, Joanna E Cobb, Jonathan D Akikusa, Roger C Allen, Terence Dwyer, Anne-Louise Ponsonby, Justine A Ellis
PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY | WILEY | Published : 2019
DOI: 10.1111/php.13045
Abstract
Cutaneous sun exposure is an important determinant of circulating vitamin D. Both sun exposure and vitamin D have been inversely associated with risk of autoimmune disease. In juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), low circulating vitamin D appears common, but disease-related behavioral changes may have influenced sun exposure. We therefore aimed to determine whether predisease sun exposure is associated with JIA. Using validated questionnaires, we retrospectively measured sun exposure for 202 Caucasian JIA case-control pairs born in Victoria Australia, matched for birth year and time of recruitment. Measures included maternal sun exposure at 12 weeks of pregnancy and child sun exposure across..
View full abstractGrants
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank the families who kindly participated in this study. We thank the research nurses and research assistants who undertook recruitment and data entry. We acknowledge support from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Australian Research Council (ARC), Arthritis Australia, Rebecca L Cooper Foundation, LEW Carty Charitable Fund, ANZ Medical Research and Technologies in Victoria Fund, Lynne Quayle Charitable Trust, The Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Support Program and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. JAE was supported by an ARC Future Fellowship. ALP was supported by NHMRC Senior Research Fellowships.