Cancer recurrence risk with bDMARD treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and a history of cancer: a nationwide Danish register-based cohort study
Authors' conclusion
No indications of increased cancer recurrence risk were found for bDMARDs as used in clinical practice in patients with RA and a solid cancer in remission when compared with csDMARD treatment.
Study context
- Population
- Danish patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and a prior algorithm-specific solid cancer in remission (breast, colorectal, melanoma, bladder, endometrial, lung), Danish Rheumatology Quality Register, 2002–2021
- Participants
- 170 / 81 / 99 / 651
- Exposure
- bDMARD vs csDMARD only
- Any bDMARDn = 170
- Tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi)n = 81
- Rituximabn = 99
- csDMARDn = 651reference
- Outcome
- Cancer recurrence (validated cancer-specific recurrence algorithms)
Methodological detailsnationwide, registry-based, inverse probability of treatment weighting, weighted cause-specific Cox models
- Nationwide
- Registry-based
- Inverse probability of treatment weighting
- Weighted cause-specific Cox models
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Cancer recurrence
Each group vs csDMARDHazard ratio (95% CI)
Any bDMARD
0.92(0.38–1.73)
TNFi
1.10(0.21–3.16)
Rituximab
0.94(0.32–2.11)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
- No increased HRs for breast cancer recurrence
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Cancer recurrence risk with bDMARD treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and a history of cancer: a nationwide Danish register-based cohort study. RMD Open. Published 20 April 2025. doi:10.
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