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Updated: Dec 5, 2025
Imaging Features of Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease
Published on: June 16, 2020
Rheumatoid arthritis-related lung disease detected on clinical chest computed tomography imaging: Prevalence, risk
Sicong Huang1, Tracy J Doyle2, Mark M Hammer3
1Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation, and Immunity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 60 Fenwood Road, Boston, MA 02115, United States; Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA 02115, United States.
Objective:
We aimed to determine the real-world prevalence and investigate risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-related lung disease on chest computed tomography (CT) imaging. We also investigated the impact of RA-related lung disease on mortality.
Methods:
We studied chest CT imaging abnormalities among RA patients. We determined the presence and type of abnormalities using the chest CT imaging radiologic report. RA-related lung disease was defined as interstitial lung disease (ILD), bronchiectasis, or pleural disease. We examined whether demographics and RA characteristics were associated with RA-related lung disease using logistic regression. RA-related lung disease and mortality was described using survival curves and Cox regression.
Results:
We analyzed 190 patients who had chest CT imaging performed for clinical indications. Mean age was 64.2 years (SD 11.8), 80.0% were female, and 75.3% were seropositive. RA-related lung disease was detected in 54 patients (28.4%); 30 (15.8%) had ILD, 27 (14.2%) had bronchiectasis, and 18 (9.5%) had pleural disease. RA-related lung disease was reported in both seropositive and seronegative RA (28.7% vs. 27.7%, p = 1.00). Male sex (OR 2.62, 95%CI 1.17-5.88) and current methotrexate use (OR 2.73, 95%CI 1.27-5.61 vs. not current) were associated with RA-related lung disease. Twenty-four (44.4%) patients with RA-related lung disease died during mean 7.0 years of follow-up. RA-related lung disease had HR of 5.35 (95%CI 0.72-39.9) for mortality compared to normal chest CT.
Conclusions:
In this real-world study, RA-related lung disease was commonly detected on chest CT imaging regardless of RA serostatus. RA-related lung disease had high mortality, emphasizing the importance in close monitoring of these patients.
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