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Autoimmune smoke and fire—coexisting rheumatoid arthritis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a cross-sectional analysis

  • ETIO PATHOGENESIS OF AUTOIMMUNITY
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Abstract

To assess the association between RA and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in a population-based case-control study. A cross-sectional analysis performed utilizing the database of Clalit Health Services, the largest healthcare provider organization in Israel. Patients over the age of 20 years who were diagnosed with RA (‘cases’) and who were treated with any anti-rheumatic drug were compared with a sample of age- and gender-matched enrollees (‘controls’) without regard for the prevalence of COPD. Data on health-related lifestyles and other comorbidities were collected. χ2, t tests, and logistic regression models were used to compare the study groups. The study included 9,039 RA cases and 15,070 controls. The proportion of COPD was significantly higher in patients with RA as compared to the control group (8.6 vs. 4.4 %, p < 0.0001, odds ratio (OR) 2.06, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.85–2.29). A multivariate logistic regression model demonstrated that RA was significantly associated with COPD, after controlling for confounders, including age, sex, socioeconomic status, smoking, and obesity (adjusted OR 1.98, 95 % CI 1.77–2.21, p < 0.0001). In this large data-based study, RA was found to be associated with COPD.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors has any conflict of interests regarding the paper or the issues it raises.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine ‘D’, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel

    Vered Bieber

  2. Chief Physician’s Office, Clalit Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Arnon D. Cohen

  3. Siaal Research Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Arnon D. Cohen & Tamar Freud

  4. The Rheumatology Research Laboratory, Department of Medicine ‘B’, Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Center, 52621, Tel-Hashomer, Israel

    Nancy Agmon-Levin, Smadar Gertel & Howard Amital

Authors
  1. Vered Bieber
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  2. Arnon D. Cohen
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  3. Tamar Freud
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  4. Nancy Agmon-Levin
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  5. Smadar Gertel
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  6. Howard Amital
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Howard Amital.

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Vered Bieber and Arnon D. Cohen have contributed equally to this paper.

All authors approve this version of the paper, and this paper was not published elsewhere.

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Bieber, V., Cohen, A.D., Freud, T. et al. Autoimmune smoke and fire—coexisting rheumatoid arthritis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a cross-sectional analysis. Immunol Res 56, 261–266 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-013-8395-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-013-8395-x

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