Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with a significantly increased risk for lung cancer, according to a study online July 28 in . Rebecca T. Brooks, M.
D., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues evaluated risk in people with RA and RA-interstitial lung disease (ILD). The analysis included 72,795 Veterans Health Administration patients with RA and 633,937 matched non-RA persons.
The researchers found that RA was independently associated with an increased lung cancer risk (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.58), which persisted in never-smokers (aHR, 1.65) and incident RA (aHR, 1.
54). Prevalent RA-ILD (757 patients) was more strongly associated with lung cancer risk (aHR, 3.25) than RA without ILD (aHR, 1.
57) compared with non-RA controls. Results were similar for both prevalent and incident RA-ILD (RA-ILD versus non-RA: aHR, 2.88).
"RA was associated with a >50 percent increased risk of lung cancer, and RA-ILD represented a particularly high-risk group with an approximate threefold increased risk," the authors write. "Increased lung cancer surveillance in RA, and especially RA-ILD, may be a useful strategy for reducing the burden posed by the leading cause of cancer death." Rebecca T.
Brooks et al, The Risk of Lung Cancer in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis‐Associated Interstitial Lung Disease, (2024). Copyright © 2024 . All rights reserved.
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