Nature Reviews Rheumatology | 2021
Cancer recurrence risk not increased by DMARDs
Abstract
A metaanalysis of 12 retrospective studies determined that the overall risk of any new or recurrent cancer in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and a history of cancer is not increased in those who initiate any biologic DMARD (bDMARD) compared with those who do not start bDMARDs (RR 1.09; 95% CI 0.92–1.32, P = 0.31); the total number of patients in the studies could not be calculated owing to missing data but was at least 7,560. On the basis of data from four studies, bDMARD treatment was associated with an increased risk of new or recurrent skin cancer (RR 1.32; 95% CI 1.02–1.72); however, skin cancer risk was not increased when melanomas were excluded.