Adults treated for rheumatoid arthritis are at 20% greater all-cancer risk than the general population, French doctors say, with men facing much higher risks than women.

The risk of melanoma, haemotological malignancies and cervical, prostate and tobacco-linked cancers is elevated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), show results from their population-based study.

Conversely, the Bicetre Hospital–led team in Paris said the incidence of breast, endometrial and pancreatic cancers in those treated for RA were “less frequent” than in the general population.

But the researchers stressed that their findings were observational and “do not infer a causal relationship between treatment exposure and cancer risk”.