Recent findings have shown that rheumatoid arthritis can
increase the risk of developing chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It was indicated that more attentiveness is needed to protect
the respiratory health of individuals with chronic
inflammatory conditions.
Investigation was done to see whether prolonged inflammatory
conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis make individuals susceptible to COPD. A team of
researchers examined information on individuals who were diagnosed with
rheumatoid arthritis and compared it with information on matched individuals in
the general population. The analysis
included 22,325 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 23,196 controls. It was
found that the incidence of COPD hospitalization was greater in patients with rheumatoid
arthritis than in the general population. After potential confounding
adjustment it was seen that rheumatoid arthritis individuals had a 44% greater
risk of needing to be hospitalized for COPD than controls. After modelling for smoking and with varying COPD definitions also the increased risk remained
significant.
These findings proved to be novel as clinicians treating
people with rheumatoid arthritis were unaware that the patients were at high
risk of developing COPD.
Clinicians and people living with rheumatoid arthritis
should be vigilant in watching for early symptoms of COPD so that it can be
diagnosed early and effective treatments can be initiated before any irreversible damage occurs
to the lungs. These steps will improve
long-term outcomes for patients and reduce the costs of COPD.
