Radiological evaluation of interstitial lung disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with abatacept or JAK inhibitors for 1 year

Abstract

BackgroundWe evaluated the radiological deterioration of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with abatacept (ABT) or Janus-kinase inhibitors (JAKi) for 1 year. MethodsThis study enrolled 84 patients with RA who had started treatment with ABT (48 patients) or JAKi (36 patients) between 2017 and 2020. All patients underwent chest CT before administration and at 1 year post-treatment. ResultsIn all patients, the rate of deterioration of ILD in ABT and JAKi was 4.2% and 5.6%, respectively (p = 0.847). In the patients with pre-existing ILD, the rates of deterioration of ILD in the ABT and JAKi groups were 10.5% and 18.2%, respectively (p = 0.611). Meanwhile, newly developed ILD did not occur in the two groups without pre-existing ILD. ConclusionThe present study demonstrated that the safety of pulmonary toxicity with ABT and JAKi treatments was similar in patients with RA. JAKi may be a potentially acceptable treatment option for patients with RA.