Open Journal of Respiratory Diseases, 2013, 3, 128-131 doi:10.4236/ojrd.2013.33020 Published Online August 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojrd) A Study on the Pulmonary Manifestations of Rheumatoid Arthritis from a North Indian Town Nazish Fatima 1* , Mohammed Shameem 2 , Abida Malik 1 , Parvez Anwar Khan 1 , Fatima Shujatullah 1 , Sohail Ahmed 3 , Nabeela 1 1 Department of Microbiology Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India 2 Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India 3 Department of Orthopedics Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India Email: * nazsham28@yahoo.co.in Received January 21, 2013; revised February 23, 2013; accepted March 3, 2013 Copyright © 2013 Nazish Fatima et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic disease of unknown etiology characterized by articular involvement, extra-articular involvement, and the presence of serum rheumatoid factor. Pulmonary involvement in RA is a common extra-articular manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that confers significant morbidity and mortality. We under- took this study to determine the prevalence and spectrum of pulmonary abnormalities in patients with rheumatoid ar- thritis (RA) from a North Indian town. 62 patients who met the American College of Rheumatology (formerly the American Rheumatism Association) 1987 classification criteria for RA were subjected to clinical examination of chest, X-Ray-chest (CXR), pulmonary function tests (PFT) and high resonance computed tomography (HRCT). 40.3% pa- tients had some pulmonary symptoms with exertional dyspnoea in 21%, cough with expectoration in 17.7%, fine respi- ratory rales in 11.3%, patients X-ray chest bilateral lower zone haziness in 16% and prominent pulmonary vasculature in 3.2%. 43% had abnormal PFT-restrictive pattern in 29%, obstructive pattern 8% and mixed pattern in 6.4%. HRCT revealed abnormal findings in 33.8% commonest being ground glass pattern in both lower lobes 19.3%, sub pleural reticulations in 9.6%, pleural thickening in 3.2% and pulmonary vascular prominence in 1.6%. To provide optimal treatment, physicians must always consider the possibility of associated pulmonary manifestations when patients with RA are evaluated. Keywords: Rheumatoid Arthritis; Pulmonary Manifestations 1. Introduction Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic disease of unknown etiology characterized by articular involve- ment, extra-articular involvement and the presence of serum rheumatoid factor. In RA, there is a symmetric and persistent inflammation of the synovial tissue, usually involving the peripheral joints. Patients with RA who have high titers of rheumatoid factor, i.e., autoantibodies to the Fc component of immunoglobulin G are most likely to have extra-articular manifestations of their dis- ease, including rheumatoid nodules, rheumatoid vascu- litis, and pleuropulmonary, neurologic, digestive, cardio- vascular, cutaneous, hematologic and ocular complica- tions [1]. Pulmonary involvement in RA is a common extra-articular manifestation of RA [2] that confers sig- nificant morbidity and mortality [3]. Given the impact of lung disease on morbidity and mortality in RA, screening of asymptomatic RA patients for pulmonary involvement has been recommended by some experts [4-6]. We undertook this study to determine the prevalence and spectrum of pulmonary abnormalities in patients with RA from a North Indian town. 2. Material & Method 5661 patients presenting with complaints of arthritis at the orthopedics OPD, JN Medical College between Jan 2007-Dec 2011 were tested for serum rheumatoid factor by latex agglutination test. Of these, 62 patients who met the American College of Rheumatology (formerly the American Rheumatism Association) 1987 classification criteria for RA [7] (Table 1) were included in the study. The patients who met the American College of Rheuma- * Corresponding author. Copyright © 2013 SciRes. OJRD