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In a new monthly feature for HealthCentral, I provide snackable summaries of all the information that impacts your chronic life. This is November’s edition:

“Grab yourself a hot beverage and get ready to click through some news you can really use. HealthCentral rheumatoid arthritis (RA) columnist Lene Andersen offers her monthly roundup of must-read news tidbits, journal articles, recent studies, social media conversations, and more that affect your life as a person living with an ongoing health condition. Plus, she’s giving her two cents about why each item matters when you’re living chronic. Check back at the beginning of each month for more Chronic Bites.

The line from parent to child when it comes to genetic autoimmune disease risk isn’t super clear cut, but a new study published in the journal Rheumatology has shed a little light on the subject. Taiwanese researchers investigated whether autoimmune disease is passed mostly from the mother’s or father’s side. They found that the risk is somewhat higher if the mother has an autoimmune condition: 1.38 times the average risk, versus 1.22 times the risk if the father has autoimmune disease. If both parents had autoimmune disease, the risk increased 1.39 times. The study also found that mothers with any form of autoimmune disease were more likely to have children who developed lupus or inflammatory myopathy (diseases that have chronic muscle inflammation and weakness), especially in boys, and that this risk was stronger when the baby was premature. Autoimmune dads were more likely to have a child who had juvenile idiopathic arthritis or type 1 diabetes.

Does this mean your children will have an autoimmune disease? Absolutely not. We know that about one third of what causes the development of autoimmune disease is associated with genes, but just having the genetic predisposition is in no way a guarantee of getting one—there’s another two thirds left of the equation, which include environmental factors and life events.

Still, if you are considering starting a family and you or your partner have an autoimmune condition, it may be a good idea to talk to your medical team about managing the risk.”

Read my Chronic Bites roundup of chronic illness news on HealthCentral.