Article Sidebar
Article Details
Copyright remains in the Author’s name. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial Works License. Authors are required to complete and sign an Author Agreement form that outlines Author and Publisher rights and terms of publication. The Agreement form should be uploaded along with other submissions files and any submission will be considered incomplete without it [forthcoming].
Material submitted for publication in the SAMJ is accepted provided it has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Please inform the editorial team if the main findings of your paper have been presented at a conference and published in abstract form, to avoid copyright infringement. The SAMJ does not hold itself responsible for statements made by the authors.
Previously published images
If an image/figure has been previously published, permission to reproduce or alter it must be obtained by the authors from the original publisher and the figure legend must give full credit to the original source. This credit should be accompanied by a letter indicating that permission to reproduce the image has been granted to the author/s. This letter should be uploaded as a supplementary file during submission.
Main Article Content
The lungs in rheumatoid arthritis - a clinical, radiographic and pulmonary function study
Abstract
Objective. To detennine the prevalence and spectrum of pulmonary abnormalities in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a developing country.
Design. This was a prospective hospital-based survey of a randomly selected group of patients with RA who were seen in a rheumatic diseases unit.
Setting. Groote Schuur Hospital and Princess Alice Orthopaedic Hospital, Cape Town.
Patients. A group of 104 patients with RA were randomly selected from a total of 330 patients with RA who were seen in the rheumatic diseases unit. All the patients were interviewed and a clinical assessment, chest radiographs and pulmonary function tests were performed.
Results. Fifty-six patients (53.8%) had evidence of one or more current or previous pulmonary diseases: rheumatoid nodule in 1 (1 %), bronchiectasis in 2 (1.9%), fibrosing a1veolitis in 5 (4.8%), pneumonia in 5 (4.8%), asthma in 9 (8.7%), pleural disease in 17 (16.3%) and tuberculosis in 25 (24%). Excluding patients who were smokers or ex-smokers or who had coexistent pulmonary disease, there were 20 patients (19.2%) who had pulmonary abnormalities that could be attributed to RA: rheumatoid nodule in 1 (1 %), fibrosing alveolitis in 5 (4.8%) (1 of whom also had pleural disease), pleural disease alone in 8 (7.7%), diffusion defect in 5 (4.8%) and airways obstruction in 1 (1 %).
Conclusion. This study provides clinical and lung function criteria that allow a clinically useful stratification of abnormalities in relation to a spectrum of common causes of pulmonary dysfunction that need to be distinguished from pulmonary abnormalities caused by RA. Pulmonary abnormalities are common and about 20% of RA patients may have an abnormality related to RA.
