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Arthritis and incident pulmonary diseases in middle-aged and elderly Chinese: a longitudinal population-based study

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Abstract

Background

The coexistence of arthritis and pulmonary abnormalities has long been observed, but the causal inter-relationships among them are still uncertain especially in elderly adults.

Methods

We extracted data from The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A total of 7534 participants without chronic lung diseases or/and asthma at the baseline and have complete follow-up information were included. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for developing chronic lung diseases or asthma. We also utilized generalized linear models to examine the association between arthritis and baseline peak expiratory flow (PEF).

Results

During 50,615 and 51,975 person-years of follow-up, 629 and 188 participants incident chronic lung diseases and asthma, respectively. Compared to those without arthritis, participants with arthritis had a higher risk of chronic lung diseases (HR = 1.54, 95%CI = 1.31–1.81, P = 1.23 × 10−7) and asthma (HR = 1.70, 95%CI = 1.27–2.28, P = 3.78 × 10−4). Arthritis subjects demonstrated significantly lower PEF than those without arthritis [β =  − 11.85 (95%CI =  − 17.56, − 6.14), P = 4.81 × 10−5]. The results were stable after excluding these participates who incident chronic lung diseases or asthma in the first 1 year of follow-up.

Conclusion

Arthritis increased the risk of pulmonary diseases among middle-aged and elderly Chinese. Early detection and treatment of pulmonary abnormalities among arthritis patients could help decrease the mortality and reduce the global burden of arthritis.

Key Points

• The coexistence of arthritis and pulmonary abnormalities has long been observed, but whether arthritis status can trigger pulmonary disorders is still uncertain.

• Arthritis status are associated with increased risk of pulmonary diseases (chronic lung diseases/asthma) among middle-aged and elderly Chinese.

• Early detection and treatment of pulmonary abnormalities among arthritis patients could help decrease the mortality and reduce the global burden of arthritis.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) study, which provided the data in this research.

Funding

This research was funded by the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2108085QH361, 2108085Y26), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Medical University (2020xkj011), and the Undergraduate Scientific Research Training Project of Anhui Medical University (2021-ZQKY-45).

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Author notes

  1. Jing Ni, Ji-Xiang Huang, and Peng Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Jing Ni, Ji-Xiang Huang, Yi-Xuan Huang, Kang-Jia Yin, Tian Tian & Hai-Feng Pan

  2. Teaching Center for Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Peng Wang

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine, Medical School of Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211, Zhejiang, China

    Han Cen

  4. Department of Orthopedics Trauma, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Cong Sui

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  1. Jing Ni
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Contributions

HFP takes responsibility for the content of the manuscript, including the conception and design of the study and final approval of the version to be submitted. JN, JXH, and PW contributed to the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of the data. JN wrote the manuscript. KJY contributed to the analysis and interpretation of the data, TT contributed to the statistical expertise, HC contributed to the statistical expertise, and CS contributed to the conception and design.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hai-Feng Pan.

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The present study was approved by the biomedical ethics committee of Peking University, and all participants provided written informed consent.

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Ni, J., Huang, JX., Wang, P. et al. Arthritis and incident pulmonary diseases in middle-aged and elderly Chinese: a longitudinal population-based study. Clin Rheumatol 42, 687–693 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-022-06396-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-022-06396-5

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