Rheumatoid arthritis patients may also have increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic found patients with rheumatoid arthritis may have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other shared risk factors, according to a presentation at the American College of Rheumatology meeting.

“These are two very common diseases, and perhaps the inflammatory burden may provide important clues to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease,” study author, M. Elaine Husni, MD, MPH, a rheumatologist and director of the Arthritis & Musculoskeletal Treatment Center at the Cleveland Clinic, told Healio.com. “This is the first study to address the association of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Alzheimer’s disease.”

Husni and colleagues retrospectively identified patients within the Explorys database who were taking medication for RA, Alzheimer’s disease or both using ICD-9 codes. For patients using RA medications, the relative risk of also taking medication for Alzheimer’s disease was compared with a control group to evaluate increased risk.

Through their search, the researchers found 430 patients were taking medicine for both RA and Alzheimer’s disease. They identified 52,330 patients taking medication for RA or Alzheimer’s disease, and 37,650 patients taking RA medication alone. The overall risk of taking medication for Alzheimer’s disease was 2.02 for patients already taking RA medication, according to the researchers.

The researchers concluded 60% of patients who were taking RA medication had an RA diagnosis, whereas 2.2% of patients taking medication for Alzheimer’s disease had a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, and 1.25% had a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, according to the abstract. — by Jeff Craven

Reference:

Husni ME. Paper #1429. Presented at: American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting. Nov. 14-19, 2014; Boston.

Disclosure: See the study for a full list of all authors’ relevant financial disclosures.