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Lung Damage in Rheumatoid Arthritis—A Retrospective Study

Authors :
Georgiana Dinache
Claudiu Costinel Popescu
Corina Mogoșan
Luminita Enache
Mihaela Agache
Cătălin Codreanu
Source :
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol 24, Iss 1, p 28 (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2022.

Abstract

The current study aimed to evaluate rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) in clinical practice and whether disease characteristics are associated with X-ray and high-resolution computed tomography (HR-CT) findings. Medical history of RA patients from a tertiary rheumatology clinic was retrieved from its electronic database starting from 1 January 2019 until the study date (8 August 2022) using International Classification of Disease version 10 codes for RA, ILD and exclusion criteria. The study included 78 RA patients (75.6% women, 15.4% active smokers), with average time from RA to ILD of 5.6 years. Regarding chest X-ray findings, men had a higher prevalence of nodules, combined fibrosis and nodules and combined bronchiectasis and nodules, rheumatoid factor (RF)-positive patients had a higher prevalence of fibrosis and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (ACPA)-positive patients had a higher prevalence of bronchiectasis. Regarding HR-CT findings, patients actively treated with methotrexate had a higher prevalence of nodules; a combination of fibrosis and nodules; combination of emphysema and nodules; and combination of fibrosis, emphysema and nodules. ILD develops within approximately 5 years from RA diagnosis, and ILD-associated imaging findings on chest X-rays and HR-CT are more prevalent among men with RA, among patients with positive RA serology (RF and/or ACPA) and RA patients on methotrexate.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
14220067 and 16616596
Volume :
24
Issue :
1
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.939be3a450604a4ea308cef8e2655e63
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24010028