title: Intramuscular gold therapy is associated with long survival in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: To investigate whether the premature death of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was associated with intramuscular (im) gold treatment or side effects due to gold, a sample of 573 adult patients with RA treated at hospital for the first time during 1961-66 was retrospectively studied for the duration and side effects of im gold treatment as well as death and causes of death. By 1989 a total of 251 patients had died. Gold treatment was not associated with premature death. On the contrary, longterm gold treatment was associated with a high survival rate. Secondary amyloidosis was diagnosed in 28 out of 63 patients, who had gold associated renal disease and who died.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatism Foundation Hospital, Heinola, Finland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lehtinen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Isomäki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006046:Gold / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D008297:Male; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D006046:Gold