Introduction And Objectives: Bronchiectasis is a pulmonary manifestation that often occurs in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Nevertheless, the prevalence of bronchiectasis in RA patients and predictors of its development/progression remain ill-defined. Our objective was to investigate the prevalence of bronchiectasis in a group of RA patients and examine possible clinical or biochemical risk factors that might contribute to its development.
Methods: This was an observational study analyzing 100 RA patients with no pulmonary symptoms selected from King Abdulaziz University Hospital in the Western region of Saudi Arabia from October 2013 to 2014. Demographic, clinical and laboratory information were collected for all patients. Diagnosis was based on the 2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) classification system, and disease activity was assessed using the 28-Joint Disease Activity Score Index with C-reactive protein; high-resolution computed tomography chest scans were performed. The prevalence of bronchiectasis was recorded and its association with different risk factors was examined using standard statistical methods.
Results: All 100 patients fulfilled the ACR and EULAR classification criteria for RA diagnosis. Their mean age was 51.05 ± 13.5 years, disease duration was 6.19 ± 6.4 years and disease activity index was 4 ± 1.3 (moderate activity). A total of 35 (35%) patients developed bronchiectasis. Notably, we observed significant positive associations of bronchiectasis with age, disease duration and male gender (P < 0.001, P = 0.006, P = 0.028, respectively).
Conclusions: Asymptomatic bronchiectasis represents a common complication in moderately active RA patients within the Western Region of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, several predictors of bronchiectasis development were identified, which can contribute to effective risk stratification in RA patients. Further prospective studies are needed to detect the prognosis of asymptomatic bronchiectasis in RA patients.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/1817-1737.160836 | DOI Listing |
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A large body of research has evidenced different risk factors associated with the severity of gambling. However, most of the research has been conducted with a male population, and consequently it has been inferred that the female population presents the same experiences and characteristics. Research on female gamblers is limited, with the result that their gambling-related problems are not effectively addressed.
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Department of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, 219 Biobehavioral Health Bldg, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
Racialized stress disproportionately impacts Black individuals and confers increased risk for psychological distress and executive dysfunction. However, there is little evidence on psychological distress' association with cognitive flexibility (CF), an executive function theorized to be a neurocognitive resilience factor, as it is shown to reflect the ability to adapt thoughts/behaviors to changing environmental stimuli. As such, we aimed to examine the relation between racialized stress and psychological distress and the potential buffering effects of CF.
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