Modifications of functional respiratory tests in non-smoker patients with rheumatoid arthritis

This paper aim is to study lower airways’ disorders in non-smoker patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) without respiratory symptoms and to reveal the correlations between the lower airways’ disorders on one side and RA dependent variables and demographic variables on the other side. Our study included 145 women diagnosed with RA. Airways evaluation was assessed by spirometry. Patients with pulmonary radiological modifications, pulmonary diseases or respiratory symptoms (cough, dyspnea) were not included in the study. Bivariate analysis was used to analyze the obtained variables. The medium age was 56.28±10.24 years. The medium body mass index (BMI) was 27.66±3.23 kg/m2. The modifications of respiratory functional tests revealed by spirometry were the following: 15.86% had FEV1/FVC<70%, 32.41% of patients had FEF50<60%, 57.93% of patients had FEV1<80% and 66.89% of patients had FCV<80%. The repartition according to RA stage was: 60.68% in the IInd stage, 31.03% in the IIIrd stage and 8.96% in the IVth stage. Spirometry evaluated disorders of the airways and pulmonary interstitium are frequently found in patients with RA, without symptoms and without radiological anomalies