Solar storms hit joints and blood vessels
A correlation was found between rheumatoid arthritis and solar activity
Scientists led by Simon Wing and Lisa Rider have found that there is a statistically significant relationship between the spread of rheumatoid arthritis, giant cell arteritis and cycles of solar activity. The corresponding study was published in the journal BMJ Open (Do solar cycles influence giant cell arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis incident?), the website of the Princeton Laboratory of Plasma Physics (Researchers correlate incidents of rheumatoid arthritis and giant cell arthritis with solar cycles) briefly writes about it.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease in which the connective tissue of the joints is affected, which is why the disease without active treatment in 70% of cases leads to disability. According to various estimates, up to 1% of the world's population suffers from it. Giant cell arteritis is a type of vasculitis, the accompanying inflammation of the vessels of the head often leads to vision problems, in advanced cases – to blindness.
The authors analyzed the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and giant cell arteritis (GA) in Olmsted County (Minnesota) for the years 1950-2007. At the same time, 1159 cases of RA and 207 cases of HA were considered. The researchers compared the data obtained with the geomagnetic activity index and the intensity of short-wave ultraviolet radiation over the same period. As a result, it turned out that the number of new diseases and RA and GA has a strong statistical correlation with geomagnetic activity and less pronounced – with ultraviolet. Within 12 months after the maximum of geomagnetic activity, the number of new cases of these diseases increased sharply, and at the minimum of activity it decreased just as sharply. The index of geomagnetic activity and short-wave ultraviolet in solar radiation are determined by the level of solar activity.
Often random correlations between unrelated areas indicate not a causal relationship, but a simple coincidence. For example, the number of suicides and spending on science in the United States in 1999-2007 showed a strong correlation, although there is no causal relationship between them. In many cases, these correlations are based on a small sample or unreliable source data. Due to their random nature, when comparing the dynamics of similar factors in another region or in another historical period, correlations between such factors disappear.Both diseases (solid lines) showed a correlation with the dotted index of geomagnetic activity (AL) and with the index of short-wave ultraviolet (F10.7).
The annual values are shown in the left columns, the smoothed average method (for 3 years) is applied in the right columns. Graphs from an article in BMJ Open.The researchers believe that the correlation between geomagnetic activity and both diseases is hardly accidental.
As is known, such activity is most pronounced near the geomagnetic poles (for example, in the form of the Northern lights). A number of earlier studies on rheumatoid arthritis revealed that it is most common in northern latitudes, and the incidence is higher on the east coast of the United States than at similar latitudes of the west. According to Wing's group, this may be due to the fact that the location of the Earth's north magnetic pole is 12 degrees different from the geographical one and is shifted to the east coast. Namely, near the geomagnetic pole, the greatest geomagnetic activity is observed, for example, in the form of the northern lights.
Geomagnetic activity on the east coast of the United States is stronger than on the west,
at the same time, the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis is also higher there
Image: Wikimedia Commons
The authors admit that they are not aware of any specific physical mechanism that could be behind the connection between solar activity and RA and GA flares. This is largely due to the fact that the causes of both of these diseases are unknown. There are only assumptions that they are autoimmune diseases that occur when the body for some reason begins to attack the joints with immune cells (arthritis) or the blood vessels of the head (arteritis). Without knowing the specific mechanisms that trigger such autoimmune attacks, it is quite difficult to formulate exactly how both of these diseases can be provoked by solar flares.
Nevertheless, Wing's group puts forward two hypotheses that could explain such an unusual connection. Earlier, another study on 142 volunteers found that during periods of increased geomagnetic activity, they experienced a 21% decrease in melatonin production. Among the functions of this hormone there is also an immunoregulatory one, in addition, melatonin binds free radicals, often found in areas of inflammation characteristic of autoimmune diseases. Therefore, the authors believe that a decrease in melatonin production during high geomagnetic activity may be the cause of autoimmune disorders, which presumably include GA and RA.
The problem with this hypothesis is that no physical mechanisms that would explain how geomagnetic activity reduces the production of melatonin in humans are also unknown at the moment. The second hypothesis focuses on the possibility of the formation of a certain amount of free radicals in the human body, which are affected by charged particles, damaging certain cells of the body.
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23.06.2015