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Women with rheumatoid arthritis or pre-clinical rheumatoid arthritis are 1.5 times more likely to give birth prematurely, according to a new study.

However, body measurements of babies born to mothers with RA or preclinical RA were only slightly lower than those born to mothers without the condition.

The study found no link between fathers with rheumatoid arthritis and preterm birth risk.

RA affects nearly 1.5 million people in the United States, according to the Arthritis Foundation. RA, which causes chronic inflammation in the joints, has been linked to a variety of pregnancy conditions like preterm birth and low birth weight.

Lead researcher Ane Rom, MPH, from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark examined data from 1.917,723 Danish children born between 1977 and 2008.

The findings revealed that children born to mothers with RA had similar birth length and abdominal circumference compared to those born to maters without RA. However, babies born to mothers with RA were on average 87 grams lighter and had placentas that were on average 14 grams lighter than those born to mother without the inflammatory disease. The study revealed similar result in babies born to mothers with preclinical RA.

"Obstetricians should be aware of the increased risk of preterm birth in women with RA and among those with preclinical signs of the disease," Rom said in a news release.

"For women with RA, we found only a small reduction in fetal growth in their babies, which has little impact on the children immediately following birth. The long term health effects for children born to mothers with RA need further investigation," she added.

The findings are published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatology.