Overview: Clinical significance of lung disease associated with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an immune-mediated disease that primarily affects joints. In the 2000s, numerous novel antirheumatic agents, called biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) as well as methotrexate, have becom available worldwide. These developments in treatment have resulted in RA remission or low disease activity in greater than 50% of RA patients. This recent progress has allowed RA patients attain improved physical function and prognosis. However, treatment-related events, such as infections, have occurred and occasionally caused severe or fatal outcomes in RA patients. Thus, clinicians must pay attention to complications during treatment with corticosteroids and/or DMARDs, especially bDMARDs. Approximately 50% of the causes of death in RA patients treated with bDMARDs involve respiratory disease, including pneumonia and interstitial lung disease. Therefore, clinicians should manage these pulmonary complications promptly. In this book, we will describe the current status of knowledge about lung disease in RA and would suggest the best form of management of lung disease in RA patients for clinicians, including general practitioners, rheumatologists, respirologists, radiologists, and pathologists. We hope that this book will prove helpful to all types of medical staff and clinicians who take care of RA patients.