The influence of thyroid diseases, diabetes mellitus, primary hyperparathyroidism, vitamin B12 deficiency and other comorbid autoimmune diseases on treatment outcome in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: An exploratory cohort study

To investigate the impact of comorbid diseases on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) outcome. All patients diagnosed with RA since 2006, who were registered in our local Danbio registry, were included in this cohort study. Patients’ demographics, serology results, and Disease Activity Score in 28 joints-C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) at the time of diagnosis and after 4 months of treatment initiation were collected. Patients’ electronic hospital records were evaluated for a positive history of thyroid diseases, diabetes mellitus, primary hyperparathyroidism, vitamin B12 deficiency, and the presence of other diagnosed autoimmune diseases. 1035 RA patients were included. The observed prevalence of thyroid diseases was 11.8%, DM 10.4%, primary hyperparathyroidism 2.8%, vitamin B12 deficiency 5.8%, and other diagnosed autoimmune diseases 1.6%. There were significant associations between presence of thyroid diseases and female gender (P 
Source: Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Tags: Research Article: Observational Study Source Type: research