Ab0560 All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Meta-Analysis

Background: One significant concern is the increased risk of mortality associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Additionally, understanding the mortality patterns in patients with RA, including overall mortality and specific causes of death, is paramount for enhancing patient care and outcomes. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for both all-cause and cause-specific mortality in patients with RA. Methods: We conducted an extensive search across the Medline, Embase, and Cochrane databases to identify studies investigating SMRs for all-cause and/or cause-specific mortality in patients with RA compared to the general population. Subsequently, we performed a comprehensive meta-analysis, examining SMRs across various categories, including all-cause, sex-specific, ethnicity-specific, and cause-specific SMRs in RA patients. Results: Our analysis encompassed seventeen studies, involving 486,098 patients with RA, among whom there were 63,988 reported deaths, meeting our inclusion criteria. Stratification by ethnicity revealed that the all-cause SMR was 1.575 (95% CI 1.207 – 1.943) in Caucasians and 1.355 (95% CI 1.140 – 1.569) in Asians. The sex-specific meta-analysis indicated pooled SMRs of 1.644 for women and 1.602 for men. Notably, RA patients exhibited an increased risk of mortality attributed to cardiovascular disease (CVD) (SMR 1.399, 95% CI: 0.972–1.706, p Conclusion: Patients with RA face a higher risk of death from various causes, irrespective of sex or ethnicity, with elevated mortality rates attributed to CVD, respiratory disease, infection, and CVA. However, the risk of death from malignancy in RA patients did not exhibit a notable increase. REFERENCES: 1 Dadoun S, Zeboulon-Ktorza N, Combescure C, Elhai M, Rozenberg S, Gossec L, et al. Mortality in rheumatoid arthritis over the last fifty years: systematic review and meta-analysis. Joint Bone Spine 2013;80:29-33. 2 Meune C, Touze E, Trinquart L, Allanore Y. Trends in cardiovascular mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis over 50 years: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. Rheumatology 2009;48:1309-13. 3 Listing J, Gerhold K, Zink A. The risk of infections associated with rheumatoid arthritis, with its comorbidity and treatment. Rheumatology 2013;52:53-61. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: None declared.