[Analysis of the causes of death in patients with rheumatoid arthritis]

The post-mortem examinations performed from 1943 to 1977 in Tartu were examined for the frequency of rheumatoid arthritis as cause of death. Here was the result that since 1968 in increasing number this clinical picture was observed and that during the last five years it appeared in 1.4% of the cases. As cause of death in patients whose basic disease was rheumatoid arthritis most frequently and uraemia was found either on the basis of an amyloidosis of the kidneys or of a chronic glomerulonephritis. Also the number of fatal complications among a long-lasting glucocorticosteroid therapy is not unconsiderable.