Factors that predict development of chronic kidney disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving biologic DMARDs and mortality rates.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine the choice of biologic/targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (b/ts-DMARDs), factors associated with the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and mortality in RA patients with CKD receiving b/ts-DMARDs. METHODS: Two thousand one hundred forty-one RA (79.4% female) patients were included in the analysis from the HUR-BIO prospective registry. Patients were divided into the CKD group and the non-CKD group. Age and gender-matched patients were selected from the non-CKD group, and then three main groups were determined. CKD was staged according to the glomerular filtration rate criteria. The clinical characteristics of the patients, disease activities, treatment choices, drug retention rate, and mortality rates were compared between the groups. RESULTS: CKD was detected in 90/2141 (4.2%) RA patients on b/ts-DMARDs. Forty patients (2.3%) developed CKD during follow-up after the initiation of b/ts-DMARDs. In the CKD group, anti-TNF agents were chosen as the first-line b/ts-DMARDs therapy in 64.4% of patients, with etanercept leading in 31 (34.4%) patients. In multivariate analysis, age at the start of treatment, DAS-28-ESR at last visit, amyloidosis, hypertension, and history of smoking were the factors associated with the development of CKD in RA patients receiving b/ts-DMARDs. The mortality rate in RA-CKD patients until the onset of the pandemic was 15.41 per 1000 patient years, whereas it was 85.9 per 1000 patient years after the pandemic. CONCLUSION: Comorbidities and control of disease activity are critical in the development of CKD in RA patients receiving b/ts-DMARDs. While there was no significant difference in mortality rate between CKD and non-CKD patients, the overall mortality rate increased after the COVID-19 pandemic duration in both groups.

Unveiling cancer risk in ANCA-associated vasculitis: result from the Turkish Vasculitis Study Group (TRVaS).

To investigate cancer incidence in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), compare it with the age/sex-specific cancer risk of the Turkish population, and explore independent risk factors associated with cancer. This multicenter, incidence case-control study was conducted using the TRVaS registry. AAV patients without cancer history before AAV diagnosis were included. Demographic and AAV-related data of patients with and without an incident cancer were compared. Standardized cancer incidence rates were calculated using age-/sex-specific 2017 Turkish National Cancer Registry data for cancers (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers). Cox regression was performed to find factors related to incident cancers in AAV patients. Of 461 AAV patients (236 [51.2%] male), 19 had incident cancers after 2022.8 patient-years follow-up. Median (IQR) disease duration was 3.4 (5.5) years, and 58 (12.6%) patients died [7 with cancer and one without cancer (log-rank, p = 0.04)]. Cancer-diagnosed patients were older, mostly male, and more likely to have anti-PR3-ANCA positivity. The cumulative cyclophosphamide dose was similar in patients with and without cancer. Overall cancer risk in AAV was 2.1 (SIR) ((1.3-3.2), p = 0.004); lung and head-neck [primary target sites for AAV] cancers were the most common. In Cox regression, male sex and ≥ 60 years of age at AAV diagnosis were associated with increased cancer risk, while receiving rituximab was associated with decreased cancer risk. Cancer risk was 2.1 times higher in AAV patients than the age-/sex-specific cancer risk of the Turkish population population, despite a high rate of rituximab use and lower dose of cyclophosphamide doses. Vigilance in cancer screening for AAV patients covering lung, genitourinary, and head-neck regions, particularly in males and the elderly, is vital.