High burden of comorbidity found in rheumatoid arthritis study

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a significantly raised rate of multiple comorbidities, especially haematologic, pulmonary, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular conditions, a study suggests.

In particular, the rate of interstitial lung disease in the 5 years after rheumatoid arthritis (RA) diagnosis was nearly five times that of people without RA, the researchers reported in Rheumatology.¹