Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Effusions Associated with

Synonyms

Rheumatoid effusions

Definition

Pleural effusions are not related to the severity or duration of the disease and may precede or occur simultaneously with the onset of the joint disease (Montes and Guarda 1987; Boddington et al. 1971).

Clinical Features

• Incidence

  Most patients with RA have small amount of effusions and are generally asyptomatic (Balbir-Gurman et al. 2006). Symptomatic pleural effusions occurring in association with RA have been described in 3–5% of RA patients although pleural involvement based on chest radiograms is much higher (Ferreiro et al. 2011).

• Age

  Almost all reported RA effusions occurred in patients over 35 years old.

• Sex

  Even though the disease has a female preponderance, effusions are more commonly seen in the male population constituting up to 80%. About 80% of those cases also had rheumatoid nodules.

• Site

  Effusions in rheumatoid arthritis are usually pleural and less commonly pericardial or peritoneal. The majority of patients present with...