COPD- Risk for rheumatoid arthritis patients

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.

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