Seropositive RA: A strong risk factor for lung cancer

Key clinical point: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were at an increased risk for lung cancer compared with the general population, with seropositivity being a strong and independent risk factor above what can be explained by smoking.

Major finding: Patients with RA vs. general population were at increased risk for lung cancer (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.70; 95% CI 1.54-1.87), with the risk being even higher among ever smokers (aHR 1.82; 95% CI 1.06-3.17) or current smokers (aHR 2.73; 95% CI 1.21-6.16) and double seropositivity being a strong and independent risk factor (aHR 6.21; 95% CI 1.47-26.33).

Study details: This was a population-based matched cohort study including 44,101 patients with RA who were individually matched with 216,495 control individuals from the general population and prospectively followed for the occurrence of lung cancer.

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Disclosures: This study was funded by the Swedish Research Council and other sources. K Chatzidionysiou declared receiving consulting fees from various sources. J Askling declared serving as principal investigator and having ties with various sources.

Source: Chatzidionysiou K et al. Risk of lung cancer in rheumatoid arthritis and in relation to autoantibody positivity and smoking. RMD Open. 2022;8(2):e002465 (Oct 21). Doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2022-002465