title: Pulmonary involvement in rheumatoid arthritis: A cross-sectional study in Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a type of pulmonary manifestation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Mostly RA-ILD has no symptoms and is only diagnosed by clinical examination, pulmonary function test (PFT), and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT); hence it seems that the diagnosis of pulmonary involvement in early stages of RA is of great importance. Therefore, we decided to answer this question whether the evaluation of RA patients without pulmonary symptoms using methods such as PFT and HRCT are justifiable and reasonable or not.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional study in a referral rheumatology clinic in Razi hospital of Rasht, Iran. Forty-four consecutive patients, diagnosed with RA, were enrolled. Physical examination of the joints was performed by an rheumatologist. The activity of RA was evaluated in all patients by Disease Activity Score 28. An expert pulmonologist performed the respiratory examination in all participants. Then, all subjects were referred for chest X-ray, PFT, and HRCT of lungs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients included in this study, 9 (20.45%) males and 35 (79.55%) females, were 21-73 years old and their mean age was 49 ± 13 years. Significant relation between PFT and respiratory complaints was observed (P = 0.016). PFT had significant relation with respiratory examinations (P = 0.009). Our results indicated a significant relation between disease activity rate and PFT (P = 0.038). While HRCT had any significant relation with above items.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We concluded, using PFT in the respiratory assessment of RA patients can be limited to persons with high disease activity, respiratory complaints, and positive findings in the clinical respiratory examination.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Research Center, Razi Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Habib
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zayeni
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Research Center, Razi Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Asghar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haji-Abbasi
authors.affiliation: Respiratory Research Center, Razi Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Ali Alavi
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Foumani
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Research Center, Razi Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tohidi
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Research Center, Razi Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Irandokht Shenavar
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Masooleh
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Research Center, Razi Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Banafsheh Ghavidel
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Parsa
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Research Center, Razi Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aghaei
authors.affiliation: Student Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hassankhani
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Research Center, Razi Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Pooneh Ghavidel
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Parsa
authors.affiliation: Student Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza Amir
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Maafi
keywords: High-resolution computed tomography; pulmonary function test; rheumatoid arthritis