title: Prevalence of symptomatic bronchiectasis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the prevalence of symptomatic bronchiectasis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional retrospective study of 453 rheumatoid arthritis patients. All patients completed a questionnaire designed to detect manifestations of bronchiectasis and had a chest film taken. Computed tomography of the chest was performed in those patients whose chest film was normal.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirteen patients (2.9%), all female, had symptoms that met Walker's criteria for definite (n = 7) or probable (n = 6) bronchiectasis. Symptom onset was during childhood or adolescence in 69% of cases and antedated the first symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in all patients but one. Six of the 13 patients (46%) had chest film abnormalities suggestive of bronchiectasis, and three of the remaining seven patients had abnormal computed tomography findings, yielding a total of nine cases of bronchiectasis confirmed by imaging studies among the 13 patients with suggestive symptoms (69%). This proportion rose to 90% when the three patients who failed to come to their computed tomography appointment were excluded.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using a methodological approach similar to that previously used by pneumologists, we found a 2.9% prevalence of symptomatic bronchiectasis in a population of hospitalized rheumatoid arthritis patients, which is higher than the 0.03% prevalence previously reported in the population at large.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Department (1), La Cavale Blanche Hospital, Brest, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Allain
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saraux
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guedes
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Valls
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Devauchelle
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Le Goff
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D001987:Bronchiectasis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed