How Safe are Antirheumatic Drugs: A Study of Possible Iatrogenic Deaths in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is generally regarded as a non-fatal disease, Although there is evidence that paatients with the disease have a diminished life expectancy, the causes of death are, by and large, the same as those in the general population. Although patients do die from complications of rheumatoid arthritis, these complications constitute only a small proportion of deaths. In our centre we have been interested in the complications of anti-rhematic drug therapy. In a previous study we found that these drugs constituted a significant morbidity among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and 6% of admissions to hospital were due to complications of therapy, especially corticosteroid therapy