Increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a population-based cohort study

Abstract

Patients with RA have a significantly higher risk of developing COPD than that of the control population. Further, age-related risk analysis indicated much higher adjusted HR in younger patients although COPD incidence increased with age. It can be hypothesized that in addition to cigarette smoke, RA may be a determining factor for COPD incidence and/or facilitates shortening of the time course for developing COPD. However, further investigation is needed to corroborate this hypothesis.