The course of pulmonary disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

2023-05-16 01:33:05

In a study whose findings were published in the journal ‘Rheumatology’, the aim of the researchers was to check the pulmonary course and the level of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The researchers also examined the factors predicting the deterioration of lung functions in patients with interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD).

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The Korean Rheumatoid Arthritis–Interstitial Lung Disease is a multicenter, prospective and observational cohort. In this framework, patients with RA-ILD were collected, after which an annual follow-up was conducted, for a total of 3 years, which included an assessment of RA and ILD activity. The researchers used group-based models in order to group similar patterns of the predicted percentage of forced vital capacity as moves.J(FVC%).

The study included 140 patients who underwent at least two lung function tests, and four different measures were defined according to the predicted FVC percentages – ‘improvement’ [n = 11 (7.9%)]’stable’ [n = 68 (38.4%)]’slow descent’ [n = 54 (48.6%)] and ‘rapid descent’ [n = 7 (5.0%)]. Most patients (77.7%) maintained low disease activity, or experienced an improvement to this degree. The results of the study show that the different courses of the lung functions were not comparable with the course of the RA disease.

The factors associated with an increased risk of rapid decline in predicted FVC% were age ≥70 years [סיכון יחסי 10.8 (רווח בר-סמך של 95% 1.30, 89.71) ו-RA מוקדמת אשר אובחנה במהלך השנתיים קודם לכן [סיכון יחסי 10.1 (רווח בר-סמך של 95% 1.22, 84.2)]. The risk of deterioration or death increased in patients who were diagnosed with RA and with ILD within 24 weeks [סיכון יחסי 9.18 (רווח בר-סמך של 95% 2.05, 41.0)] and according to the degree of involvement of the lungs in the disease [סיכון יחסי 3.28 (רווח בר-סמך של 95% 1.12, 9.60)].

In conclusion, most patients with RA-ILD maintained stable pulmonary function, or experienced a slow decline. However, approximately 5% of patients, particularly adults with early RA, experienced a rapid deterioration in predicted FVC%. It was also found that the course of pulmonary function in these patients was not comparable with the course of RA activity.

source:

Sung Hae Chang, Ji Sung Lee, You-Jung Ha, Min Uk Kim, Chan Ho Park, Jeong Seok Lee, Ji-Won Kim, Sang Wan Chung, Jung Yoon Pyo, Sung Won Lee, Eun Ha Kang, Yeon-Ah Lee, Yong-Beom Park, Jung-Yoon Choe, Eun Young Lee, for the Korean Rheumatoid Arthritis–Interstitial Lung Disease Cohort Investigators, Lung function trajectory of rheumatoid arthritis–associated interstitial lung disease, Rheumatology2023;, kead027,