Clinical Profile of RA-associated Interstitial Lung Disease Save

A prospective, cross-sectional analysis of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) shows those with interstitial lung disease (ILD) tend to be older, obese and have a smoking history.

A single-center cohort study of 148 RA-ILD and 410 RA-non ILD patients compared clinical features clinical features to identify distinguishing features associated with RA-ILD.

Overall, those with RA-ILD group were older (65.8 vs. 58.0  yrs; P < 0.001) and were more likely to be male (35.8% vs. 14.6%, P < 0.001) than in the RA-non ILD group.

The age of onset was higher in the RA-ILD group, with a higher proportion of late-onset (age ≥ 60 years) RA than in the comparator group (43.9% vs. 14.2%, P < 0.001).

Factors associated with RA-ILD (by multivariable logistic regression analysis) included: 

• higher age at RA onset (OR 1.056, 95% CI 1.021–1.091)
• higher body mass index (BMI; OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.036–2.629)
• smoking history (OR 2.484, 95% CI 1.071–5.764),
• oral glucocorticoid use (OR 3.562, 95% CI 2.160–5.874)

Conversely, methotrexate was less likely to be associated with ILD (OR 0.253, 95% CI 0.155–0.412).