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Rheumatoid arthritis and neurodegenerative dementia: a nested case-control study and a follow-up study using a national sample cohort

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Abstract

Objectives

The present study evaluated the associations between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and neurodegenerative dementia using a Korean national sample cohort.

Methods

We designed two studies using the Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort from 2002 to 2013. Study I included participants with dementia matched 1:4 with controls and analyzed the participants’ history of RA. Study II included participants with RA matched 1:4 with controls and analyzed the occurrence of dementia. RA was defined by the presence of relevant ICD-10 codes (M05 or M06) and medication histories. Neurodegenerative dementia was defined using ICD-10 codes (G30 or F00). Crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were analyzed using conditional logistic regression analyses. Crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were analyzed using the stratified Cox proportional hazard model. Subgroup analyses were performed on groups stratified by age and sex.

Results

The adjusted ORs for RA were 0.96 (95% CI = 0.78–1.16, P = 0.644) in the dementia group in study I. The adjusted HRs for dementia were 0.91 (95% CI = 0.76–1.10, P = 0.319) in the RA group in study II. No subgroup analysis reached the statistical significance level.

Conclusion

We could not identify any significant relationship between RA and dementia.

Key Points

• Two studies were conducted to identify the relationship between rheumatoid arthritis and dementia using national cohort data.

• Neither study showed any association between rheumatoid arthritis and dementia.

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Acknowledgments

The manuscript was edited for English language, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and overall style by the highly qualified native English-speaking editors at American Journal Experts (6619-3130-000E-B743-046P).

Funding

This work was supported in part by a research grant (NRF-2018-R1D1A1A02085328) from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea and Hallym Research Fund (HURF-2018-53).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Chanyang Min and Woo Jin Bang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hallym Data Science Laboratory, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang, South Korea

    Chanyang Min & Hyo Geun Choi

  2. Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, 22, Gwanpyeong-ro 170beon-gil, Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 14068, Republic of Korea

    Chanyang Min & Hyo Geun Choi

  3. Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

    Chanyang Min

  4. Department of Urology, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang, South Korea

    Woo Jin Bang

  5. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang, South Korea

    Miyoung Kim

  6. Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Dong Jun Oh

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  1. Chanyang Min
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Correspondence to Hyo Geun Choi.

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The ethics committee of Hallym University (2014-I148) approved the use of the data. The need for written informed consent was waived by the Institutional Review Board.

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Min, C., Bang, W.J., Kim, M. et al. Rheumatoid arthritis and neurodegenerative dementia: a nested case-control study and a follow-up study using a national sample cohort. Clin Rheumatol 39, 159–166 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-019-04769-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-019-04769-x

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