[The characteristics of the course of rheumatoid arthritis combined with thyroid pathology]

As many as 28 patients with associated rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and thyroid pathology were examined. Comparison with the control group of RA patients (n = 100) revealed a number of the clinical characteristics: the lack of severe destructive lesions of the joints, bone ankyloses, aseptic necroses of the head of the femur, a higher percentage of the development of secondary amyloidosis of the kidneys, attesting to the presence of a definite pathogenetic interrelation between these diseases.