Polyautoimmunity in Patients With Anticyclic Citrullinated Peptide Antibody–Positive and –Negative Rheumatoid Arthritis: a Nationwide Cohort Study From Denmark

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Salome Kristensen
  • Amalie M. Hagelskjær
  • René Cordtz
  • Sofie Bliddal
  • Anders S. Mortensen
  • Claus H. Nielsen
  • Feldt-Rasmussen, Ulla
  • Karen B. Lauridsen
  • Lene Dreyer

Objective. This study aimed to compare the prevalence and incidence of polyautoimmunity between anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (anti-CCP)–positive and anti-CCP–negative patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. In a nationwide register-based cohort study, patients with RA (disease duration ≤ 2 yrs) in the DANBIO rheumatology register with an available anti-CCP test in the Register of Laboratory Results for Research were identified. The polyautoimmunity outcome included 21 nonrheumatic autoimmune diseases identified by linkage between the Danish Patient Registry and Prescription Registry. The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence ratio (PR) was calculated by modified Poisson regression to estimate the prevalence at diagnosis in anti-CCP–positive vs anti-CCP–negative patients. The hazard ratio (HR) of polyautoimmunity within 5 years of entry into DANBIO was estimated in cause-specific Cox regression models. Results. The study included 5839 anti-CCP–positive and 3799 anti-CCP–negative patients with RA. At first visit, the prevalence of prespecified polyautoimmune diseases in the Danish registers was 11.1% and 11.9% in anti-CCP–positive and anti-CCP–negative patients, respectively (PR 0.93, 95% CI 0.84-1.05). The most frequent autoimmune diseases were autoimmune thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and type 1 diabetes mellitus. During a mean follow-up of 3.5 years, only a few (n = 210) patients developed polyautoimmunity (HR 0.6, 95% CI 0.46-0.79). Conclusion. Polyautoimmunity as captured through the Danish National Patient Registry occurred in approximately 1 in 10 patients with RA at time of diagnosis regardless of anti-CCP status. In the years subsequent to the RA diagnosis, only a few and mainly anti-CCP–negative patients developed autoimmune disease.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Rheumatology
Volume51
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)350-359
Number of pages10
ISSN0315-162X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Journal of Rheumatology.

    Research areas

  • anti-citrullinated cyclic peptides, autoimmunity, polyautoimmunity, rheumatoid arthritis

ID: 391778722