Women with rheumatoid arthritis are up to 90% more likely to die earlier than women of the same age ...
Women with rheumatoid arthritis are up to 90% more likely to die earlier than women of the same age without the condition, according to the Iowa Women's Health Study 2002.
Starting in 1986, the study followed the progress of 31,000 women aged between 55 and 69. None of the women had rheumatoid arthritis at the start of the study, but by 1997, 158 cases of the condition had been identified. Up to 13 years later, 30 patients had died.
A total of 60% of diagnosed patients tested positive for the rheumatoid factor ' an antibody commonly found in the serum of patients. The risk of death was 90% greater among people testing positive for the antibody and 60% greater for people with the disease as a whole ' compared to women of the same age, excluding risk factors such as smoking.
