Response to Dr Urata's Letter to the Editor of Modern Rheumatology regarding a study of "Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis after regression of lymphoproliferative disorders".

Abstract

In Response: We greatly appreciate Dr Yukitomo Urata’s thoughtful comments in the letter to the Editor [1] on the statistical issue in our study [2]. Persistent-type LPD developed in RA patients undergoing treatment had ... a low relapse rate for 6 years after LPD treatment. However, after that, it reversed and the relapse rate was higher than that of the regressive-type (Figure 1). This is a crucial point clinically. The total number at risk in Figure 2(b) did not match the number in Figure 2(a), which was a simple miscalculation. The numbers have been corrected as shown in Figure 1. Kazuhisa Nakano has received research grants from Mitsubishi-Tanabe, Eisai, and Eli Lilly. This work was supported by a research grant from the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan (H30-menneki-shitei-002).