One report has indicated that the use of PMH among women carrying the HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (SE) alleles may protect against the development of criterium-defined RA in a population of women with early undifferentiated arthritis, and that this prevention is associated with a reduction of antibodies to citrullinated peptides (ACPA) [28]. Here, HLA-DRB1 is linked to rheumatoid arthritis.