DMARDs Lower Dementia Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis

By Jack Cush, MD | 13 February 2018

UK researchers have analyzed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients from the UK Clinical Practice Research Database and shown that chronic conventional DMARD (cDMARD) use was associated with 40% lower risk of dementia (nearly 50% with methotrexate use).

They compared 3876 cDMARD users to 1938 nonusers among incident RA and found a reduced risk of dementia (hazard ratio: 0.60; 95% confidence interval: 0.42-0.85). The effect was strongest in methotrexate users (hazard ratio: 0.52; 95% confidence interval; 0.34-0.82).

These results suggest a new potential therapeutic role for DMARDs and the possible contribution of inflammation on dementia.

Disclosures:

The author has no conflicts of interest to disclose related to this subject

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