A transient peak of infections during onset of rheumatoid arthritis: a 10-year prospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The role of infection in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has not been determined. We aimed to document the infectious burden and some aspects of antibacterial immunity in a large and prospective cohort study of RA patients in the early and late stages of the disease and in their relatives predisposed to RA.

Setting

Clinical and laboratory examination of all individuals enrolled in the study was performed in the Republican Clinical Hospital, Kazan, Russia.

Participants

376 patients with RA, 251 healthy first-degree relatives and 227 healthy controls without a family history of autoimmune disease (all females) were examined twice annually over more than 10 years.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

The following parameters were investigated: type, duratio

SUBMITTER: Arleevskaya MI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4156809 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature