Bidirectional Link Seen for Rheumatoid Arthritis, Interstitial Lung Disease

TUESDAY, Nov. 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) — There is a bidirectional association for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and interstitial lung disease (ILD), according to a study published online Oct. 12 in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

Bo-Guen Kim, M.D., Ph.D., from Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues examined the bidirectional relationship between RA and ILD using Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses. Data were obtained from 474,450 participants of European ancestry and 351,653 participants of East Asian ancestry.

The researchers found significant evidence of an increased risk for ILD associated with RA among individuals of European and East Asian ancestries (odds ratios [95 percent confidence intervals], 1.08 [1.03 to 1.14; P = 0.003] and 1.37 [1.23 to 1.54; P < 0.001], respectively) in the primary analysis. The reverse MR showed significant evidence of an increased risk for RA associated with ILD among those of European ancestry (odds ratio, 1.12; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.05 to 1.19; P < 0.001), but no increased risk was seen for those of East Asian ancestry (odds ratio, 1.02; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.91 to 1.14; P = 0.740).

“As our findings only present the results for genetic predisposition, the shared pathogenesis between the two diseases indicates the importance of further studies incorporating other factors that may impact the natural course of either disease,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to Basgenbio.

Abstract/Full Text