Brief report: airways abnormalities and rheumatoid arthritis-related autoantibodies in subjects without arthritis: early injury or initiating site of autoimmunity?

Objective: To evaluate the presence of pulmonary abnormalities in rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-related autoantibody-positive subjects without inflammatory arthritis.

Methods: Forty-two subjects who did not have inflammatory arthritis but were positive for anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies and/or ≥2 rheumatoid factor isotypes (a profile that is 96% specific for RA), 15 autoantibody-negative controls, and 12 patients with established seropositive early RA (<1-year duration) underwent spirometry and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) lung imaging.

Results: The median age of autoantibody-positive subjects was 54 years, 52% were female, and 38% were ever-smokers; these characteristics were not significantly different from those of autoantibody-negative control subjects.