Rheumatoid Heart Disease

Abstract

CARDIAC lesions are known to occur in rheumatoid arthritis but have seldom been recognized before autopsy. The relation between rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease may not have been readily apparent for various reasons. Most clinical studies, for example, have intentionally excluded patients over fifty years of age and those assumed to have arteriosclerotic heart disease. Other studies are difficult to evaluate because they include patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. Though rheumatoid arthritis may manifest itself at any age certain distinctive clinical differences between the adult and juvenile forms suggest that they might well be considered apart. It . . .