Clinical Epidemiology - Cabrini

Malignancy and rheumatoid arthritis

A/Prof Rachelle Buchbinder, Dr Anita Wluka, A/Prof Damien Jolley, A/Prof Stephen Hall, Dr Andrew Harkness, Dr Daniel Lewis, Dr Geoffrey Littlejohn, Dr Marian Miller, Dr Peter Ryan

We investigated the incidence of cancer in 459 patients treated with long-term methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis.  These patients were followed for an average of 9.3 years.  Results indicated that there was an estimated 50% excess risk of malignancy amongst RA patients exposed to methotrexate relative to the general population.  The risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was more than five times that in the general population.  Other cancers for which there was evidence of increased risk were lung and melanoma.

Publication is currently in preparation.