title: Secondary amyloidosis has decreased in patients with inflammatory joint disease in Finland.
abstract: We studied whether the high incidence of secondary amyloidosis (SA) is a consistent finding in patients with inflammatory joint disease. A total of 4508 biopsies of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis were studied at the Rheumatism Foundation Hospital during 1987-1997. The results show that the annual number of findings of SA was reduced from 68 to less than 10. We suggest that a change in medication towards more frequent use of cytostatic agents is the reason for the reduction in incidence of SA.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatism Foundation Hospital, Heinola, Finland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Laiho
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tiitinen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaarela
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Helin
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Isomäki
mesh_terms: D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000150:complications; D015535:Arthritis, Psoriatic / Q000150:complications*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications*; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000150:complications