Medical Department, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Int J Rheum Dis. 2009 Jul;12(2):136-44. doi: 10.1111/j.1756-185X.2009.01376.x.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic disease of unknown cause. A variety of pulmonary disorders have been described in association with RA. Among the most common are interstitial lung disease (ILD) and bronchiectasis.
This study aims to determine the characteristics of RA patients with lung disease in relation to clinical characteristics, pulmonary function test (PFT) and high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) thorax.
This is a 6-months cross-sectional study involving 63 consecutive RA patients in an outpatient rheumatology clinic. Patients had a mean disease duration of 5 years and above. Disease activity and severity was assessed by Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and Rheumatoid Arthritis Articular Damage (RAAD) score. Full pulmonary function test (PFT) and HRCT of thorax were performed.
The prevalence of RA-ILD is 44% and 67% of patients are asymptomatic. There was significant higher proportion (68%) in patients of Chinese ethnicity who have ILD. Diffusion capacity of carbon monoxide was abnormal in all patients and forced expiratory flow (FEF)(25-75%) was low in 16%. Restrictive pattern was 66.7% by PFT. The most common HRCT findings were reticulation (46%) followed by ground glass opacities (38.1%) and bronchiectasis (28.6%). There was no association between ILD and male gender, duration of the disease, smoking, rheumatoid factor, extra-articular manifestations, disease activity or severity.
类风湿关节炎（RA）是一种病因不明的系统性疾病。已有多种肺部疾病与 RA 相关。其中最常见的是间质性肺疾病（ILD）和支气管扩张症。
本研究旨在确定与临床特征、肺功能检查（PFT）和高分辨率计算机断层扫描（HRCT）胸部相关的肺部疾病 RA 患者的特征。
这是一项为期 6 个月的横断面研究，纳入了门诊风湿病诊所的 63 例连续 RA 患者。患者的平均疾病持续时间为 5 年以上。疾病活动度和严重程度通过疾病活动评分 28（DAS28）、健康评估问卷（HAQ）和类风湿关节炎关节损伤（RAAD）评分进行评估。进行了完整的肺功能检查（PFT）和胸部 HRCT。
RA-ILD 的患病率为 44%，67%的患者无症状。具有 ILD 的患者中，中国人种的比例显著更高（68%）。所有患者的一氧化碳弥散量均异常，16%的患者用力呼气流量（FEF）（25-75%）降低。PFT 显示限制性模式为 66.7%。最常见的 HRCT 表现是网状影（46%），其次是磨玻璃影（38.1%）和支气管扩张症（28.6%）。ILD 与男性、疾病持续时间、吸烟、类风湿因子、关节外表现、疾病活动度或严重程度之间无关联。
