musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
Prognosis for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis decreases life expectancy by 3 to 7 years, with heart disease, infection, and gastrointestinal bleeding accounting for most excess mortality; drug treatment, cancer, as well as the underlying disease may be responsible. Disease activity should be controlled to lower cardiovascular disease risk in all patients with rheumatoid arthritis. (See also the European League Against Rheumatism's (EULAR)recommendationsfor cardiovascular disease risk management in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other forms of inflammatory joint disorders.) At least 10% of patients are eventually severely disabled despite full treatment. White people and women have a poorer prognosis, as do patients with subcutaneous nodules, advanced age at disease onset, inflammation in≥20 joints, early erosions, cigarette smoking, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and high levels of rheumatoid factor or anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP). 