Investigating the Relationship Between Overexposure to Ultraviolet Radiation and Rheumatoid Arthritis Using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2016 Data.

Background Research on the association between sunburn and autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis is scarce. To date, no study has looked at the relationship between over-exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation indicated by sunburn and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We addressed this gap using the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database following a hypothesis that no relationship exists between sunburn and rheumatoid arthritis.