title: Cause of death in 81 autopsied patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the cause of death and complications in a series of autopsied patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
  
  
  METHODS
  A clinicopathological study of 81 autopsied patients with RA was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In order of frequency, the causes of death were infection (23.5%), heart disease (17.3%), respiratory failure (9.9%), renal failure (9.9%), and gastrointestinal disease (9.9%). Observed complications of RA were systemic angiitis in 25 cases (30.8%), systemic amyloidosis in 17 cases (21.0%), and pulmonary fibrosis in 28 cases (34.6%). No patient had both angiitis and amyloidosis simultaneously. The prevalence of systemic angiitis tended to decrease during the study period (1960-1990), while systemic amyloidosis tended to increase.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cause of death in RA is difficult to analyze accurately because RA itself is a chronic systemic inflammation disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Kawasaki Municipal Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohosone
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Obana
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mita
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Irimajiri
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fukuda
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000150:complications; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D001344:Autopsy; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000150:complications; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000150:complications