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A women's risk of rheumatoid arthritis may be determined by the genes her partner gave their children.

The interesting find was reported by a team of researchers from University of California, Berkley. The researchers claimed that cells shared by the fetus with the mother during pregnancy, can hang around for several decades. In women with rheumatoid arthritis, these cells contain DNA (HLA genes) associated with high risk of arthritis, The Telegraph reported.

"For most women, shortly after giving birth, the fetal cells clear up. But in a subset of women they actually persist for decades," said researcher Giovanna Cruz according to New Scientist. The insertion of fetal cells into the mother's body is known as microchimerism.

The experiment involved inspection of genes in women with arthritis, their family, healthy women with at least one child, and unrelated men. The objective was to determine a woman's genetic risk and check if onset of RA in women was caused by factors besides their own genetic risks.

They found that women who developed the disease were twice likely to have given birth to children who had high risk genes passed to them by their fathers. The mechanism is however yet to be completely understood.

"We don't yet understand how the shared epitope and other HLA alleles influence rheumatoid arthritis risk, but one possibility is that interactions between the proteins these genes encode may stimulate the autoimmune symptoms of the disease," Economic Times quoted Cruz.

The study was termed as having potential to advance understanding of the disorder, which is three times more common in women than men. However, experts not related to the study pointed out that women who have never given birth can also develop the disorder.

"It may be that fetal microchimerism would only account for a small proportion of the aetiology of the disease," Chris Deighton, adviser to the British Society for Rheumatology, reportedly said according to New Scientist.