The lungs are one of the most common extra-articular organs involved in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which is reported to occur in up to 60% to 80% of RA patients. Respiratory complications are the second leading cause of death due to RA. Although there is a wide spectrum of RA-associated respiratory diseases, interstitial lung disease is the most common manifestation and it impacts the prognosis of RA. There has been progress in understanding the management and progression of rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) and RA-associated respiratory diseases recently, for example, opportunistic pulmonary infectious diseases and toxicity from RA therapies. From a chest physicians' perspective, we will update the diagnosis and treatment of RA-associated ILD, methotrexate-associated lung disease, and the complication of Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia in RA in this review.
Humans ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/complications* ; Methotrexate/therapeutic use* ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial/complications* ; Prognosis ; Lung

Humans ; COVID-19 ; Neoplasms/complications* ; Lung Diseases ; Medical Oncology

OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation between dyslipidemia and rheumatoid arthritis associa-ted interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) by retrospective analysis of the clinical data. METHODS: The clinical data of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), who were hospitalized in the Department of Rheumatism and Immunology of Peking University Shenzhen Hospital from January 2015 to July 2020 and fulfilled the criteria of the 2010 Rheumatoid Arthritis Classification Criteria established by American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism collaborative initiative, were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: There were 737 RA patients included, of whom 282(38.26%)were with interstitial lung disease (ILD). The median time from the onset of the first RA-related clinical symptoms to the onset of ILD was 13 years (95%CI 11.33-14.67). By multivariate Logistic regression analysis, we found that low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was an independent risk factor for RA-ILD (OR 1.452, 95%CI 1.099-1.918, P=0.009), whereas high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was a protective factor for RA-ILD (OR 0.056, 95%CI 0.025-0.125, P < 0.001). The RA patients with high LDL-C or low HDL-C had higher incidence of ILD than that of the RA patients with normal LDL-C or HDL-C(57.45% vs. 36.96%, P < 0.001; 47.33% vs. 33.81%, P < 0.001, respectively). The median time of ILD onset in the RA patients with low HDL-C was shorter than that of the RA patients with normal HDL-C [10.0(95%CI 9.33-10.67)years vs.17.0 (95%CI 14.58-19.42) years, P < 0.001]. HDL-C level was negatively correlated with disease activity. Among the RA-ILD patients, the patients with low HDL-C had higher percentage of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) then that of the patients with normal HDL-C (60.00% vs. 53.29%, P=0.002). The RA-ILD patients with high LDL-C had higher incidence rate of decrease in forced vital capacity (FVC) than that of the RA-ILD patients with normal LDL-C (50.00% vs. 21.52%, P=0.015). The RA-ILD patients with low HDL-C had higher incidence rate of decrease in FVC (26.92% vs. 16.18%, P=0.003) and carbon monoxide diffusion (80.76% vs. 50.00%, P=0.010) than that of RA-ILD patients with normal HDL-C. CONCLUSION LDL-C was possibly a potential independent risk factor for RA-ILD. HDL-C was possibly a potential protective factor for RA-ILD. HDL-C level was negatively correlated with disease activity of RA. The median time of ILD onset in the RA patients with low HDL-C was significantly shorter than that of the RA patients with normal HDL-C.
Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Cholesterol, LDL ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/complications* ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial/complications* ; Dyslipidemias/epidemiology*

Objective To evaluate the clinical characteristics and prognostic predictors of patients with diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) and/or interstitial lung disease (ILD) secondary to microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) in a Chinese general hospital. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of MPA patients admitted to internal medicine departments between the year 2002 and 2012. The patients were divided into the ILD, DAH, DAH combined with ILD (DAHILD), and no pulmonary involvement (NPI) groups according to pulmonary involvement patterns. The clinical characteristics at diagnosis were analyzed. The risk factors associated with short-term death and long-term death were identified with Logistic regression and Cox analysis.Results Of 193 newly diagnosed MPA patients, 181 patients were enrolled in the research, of which 19 had DAH alone, 96 had ILD alone, 18 had DAH and DAH concurrently, and 48 had NPI. The median of serum creatine level in the DAH group was 449 μmol/L, significantly higher than that in the ILD group (123 μmol/L, Nemenyi = -35.215, P = 0.045) and DAHILD group (359 μmol/L, Nemenyi = -43.609, P = 0.007). The median follow-up time was 67 (range: 1-199) months. Patients in the ILD group were older than those in the DAH group (median: 69 years vs. 57 years, Nemenyi = 43.853, P= 0.005). The patients with both DAH and ILD had combined features of the two subtypes, and the highest mortality (72.2% at the end of follow-up). The elevated white blood cell count was a risk factor for short-term death (OR = 1.103, 95%CI: 1.008-1.207, P = 0.032 for one month; OR = 1.103, 95%CI: 1.026-1.186, P = 0.008 for one year). Old age (HR= 1.044, 95%CI: 1.023-1.066, P < 0.001), cardiovascular system involvement (HR = 2.093, 95%CI: 1.195-3.665, P = 0.010), poor renal function (HR = 1.001, 95%CI: 1.000-1.002, P = 0.032) were risk factors for long-term death. Pulmonary infections (38/54) were the leading causes of death, especially for the patients with ILD. Besides, 49 patients suffered from pulmonary infections in the first year after diagnosis. Conclusions MPA patients who presented with different pulmonary involvement patterns have completely different clinical features. These subtypes probably have different pathogenesis and should be studied separately.
Humans ; Microscopic Polyangiitis/diagnosis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial/complications* ; Hemorrhage/complications* ; Prognosis

OBJECTIVE: To construct and validate a nomogram for predicting the risk of secondary peripheral neuropathy in patients with advanced lung cancer. METHODS: The sociodemographic and clinical data of 335 patients with advanced lung cancer admitted to Department of Respiratory, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine from May 2020 to May 2021 were retrospectively collected. Pearson correlation analysis, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the risk factors of secondary peripheral neuropathy in patients with advanced lung cancer. A nomogram was constructed according to the contribution of each risk factor to secondary peripheral neuropathy, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Calibration curve and clinical decision curve were used to evaluate differentiation, calibration, and the clinical utility of the model. The nomogram was further validated with data from 64 patients with advanced lung cancer admitted between June 2021 and August 2021. RESULTS: The incidences of secondary peripheral neuropathy in two series of patients were 34.93% (117/335) and 40.63% (26/64), respectively. The results showed that drinking history ( OR=3.650, 95% CI: 1.523-8.746), comorbid diabetes ( OR=3.753, 95% CI: 1.396-10.086), chemotherapy ( OR=2.887, 95% CI: 1.046-7.970), targeted therapy ( OR=8.671, 95% CI: 4.107-18.306), immunotherapy ( OR=2.603, 95% CI: 1.337-5.065) and abnormal liver and kidney function ( OR=12.409, 95% CI: 4.739-32.489) were independent risk factors for secondary peripheral neuropathy (all P<0.05). A nomogram was constructed based on the above risk factors. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of the nomogram for predicting the secondary peripheral neuropathy was 0.913 (95% CI: 0.882-0.944); and sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 85.47%, 81.65%, 71.43% and 91.28%, respectively. The Calibration curve and clinical decision curve showed good calibration and clinical utility. External validation results showed that the AUC was 0.764 (95% CI: 0.638-0.869); and sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 79.28%, 85.79%, 73.25% and 85.82%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Advanced lung cancer patients have a high risk of secondary peripheral neuropathy after anticancer therapy. Drinking history, comorbid diabetes, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, abnormal liver and kidney function are independent risk factors. The nomogram prediction model constructed in the study is effective and may be used for the risk assessment of secondary peripheral neuropathy in patients with advanced lung cancer.
Humans ; Nomograms ; Retrospective Studies ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases/etiology* ; Risk Factors ; Lung Neoplasms/complications*

Arthritis, Rheumatoid/complications* ; Biomarkers ; Humans ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial/etiology* ; Prognosis

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical features, radiologic scores and clinically relevant risk factors prognosis of secondary interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: In this study, 60 SLE patients in Department of Rheumatology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Baotou Medical College and Taizhou First People's Hospital from January 2015 to March 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. All of those 60 patients with SLE underwent lung high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) examination. We used a 1 ∶1 case-control study. There was a matching of age and gender between the two groups. Thirty patients with SLE related ILD (SLE-ILD) were in the case group, and 30 patients with SLE without ILE (SLE non-ILD) were in the control group. The clinical features, pulmonary function test, radiologic characteristic of SLE patients were collected and were used to analyze SLE-ILD. RESULTS: In this study, we reached the following conclusions: First, there were statistically significant differences in chest tightness/shortness of breath, Raynaud's phenomenon, and Velcro rale between SLE-ILD and SLE non-ILD patients (both P < 0.05); Second, hemoglobin (Hb) and albumin (ALB) in the patients of SLE-ILD had a significant decrease compared with the patients of SLE non-ILD. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) increased in SLE-ILD patients compared with SLE non-ILD patients, the difference had statistical significance (P < 0.05); Third, for SLE-ILD patients, the most common type was non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), followed by usual interstitial pneumonia and lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia; Fourth, there was no significant difference in clinical-radiology-physiology scores between the different ILD types (P>0.05), similarly, the lung HRCT score and lung function between different ILD types had no significant difference (P>0.05); Fifth, multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that decreased albumin and chest tightness/shortness of breath might be the risk factor for SLE-ILD. CONCLUSION There are statistically significant differences between the SLE-ILD group and SLE non-ILD group in terms of chest tightness/shortness of breath, Velcro rale and Raynaud's phenomenon. Decreased albumin and chest tightness/shortness of breath in SLE patients should be alerted to the occurrence of ILD. NSIP is the most common manifestation of SLE-ILD.
Case-Control Studies ; Humans ; Lung/diagnostic imaging* ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial/etiology* ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/complications* ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the value of serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) chitinase-3-like-1 protein (YKL-40) in the diagnosis of anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 (MDA5)-positive dermatomyositis (DM) patients complicated with serious pulmonary injury, including rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease (RP-ILD) and pulmonary infection. METHODS: Anti-MDA5 antibodies positive patients with DM who were hospitalized in the Department of Rheumatology of China-Japan Friendship Hospital from 2013 to 2018 were involved in this study. Demographic information, clinical, laboratory and imaging data were retrospectively collected. ELISA was used to detect the serum and BALF levels of YKL-40. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn, and the area under ROC curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum YKL-40 for pulmonary injury.Interstitial lung disease (ILD) was confirmed by chest high-resolution CT (HRCT). RP-ILD was defined as progressive respiratory symptoms such as dyspnea and hypoxemia within 3 months, and/or deterioration of interstitial changes or appearace of new pulmonary interstitial lesions on chest HRCT. Pulmonary infection was considered as positive pathogens detected in qualified sputum, blood, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid or lung biopsy specimens. RESULTS: A total of 168 anti-MDA5-positive DM patients including 108 females and 60 males were enrolled in the study. Of these patients, 154 had ILD, and 66(39.3%) of them presented RP-ILD. Seventy patients with pulmonary infection were confirmed by etiology. In the patients with RP-ILD, 39 (59.1%) of them were complicated with pulmonary infection. While only 31 cases(30.4%) had pulmonary infection in the non-RP-ILD patients. The incidence of pulmonary infection in the patients with RP-ILD was significantly higher than that of those with non-RP-ILD (P < 0.001). The serum YKL-40 levels in the RP-ILD patients with pulmonary infection were the highest compared with RP-ILD without pulmonary infection, non-RP-ILD with pulmonary infection and non-RP-ILD without pulmonary infection groups among all the patients [83 (42-142) vs. 42 (21-91) vs. 43 (24-79) vs. 38 (22-69), P < 0.01].The sensitivity, specificity and AUC of serum YKL-40 in the diagnosis of RP-ILD complicated with pulmonary infection were 75%, 67%, and 0.72, respectively. The AUC of diagnosed of anti-MDA5 positive DM patients complicated with RP-ILD and pulmonary infection was higher than that of patients complicated with only RP-ILD and only pulmonary infection (0.72 vs. 0.54 and 0.55, Z=2.10 and 2.11, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION The prognosis of anti-MDA5-positive DM patients with RP-ILD and pulmonary infection were poor. Serum YKL-40 level can be used as a helpful tool for the diagnosis of coexistence of these conditions in the patients.
Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1 ; Dermatomyositis/complications* ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial/diagnosis* ; Lung Injury ; Male ; Retrospective Studies

To explore the chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) features in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) complicated with pulmonary involvement. Totally 161 patients with RA with lung involvement were collected from June 2014 to May 2018. The chest HRCT findings were retrospectively analyzed. According to the imaging features as well as the results of history taking,pulmonary function test,pathology,and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid test,RA-related lung diseases (RA-LD) were classified and their clinical characteristics were compared. These 161 RA-LD patients (56 males and 105 females) whose mean age at diagnosis was (60.7±12.8) years (14-85 years) included 87 cases of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) (including 16 cases of possible UIP),44 cases of non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP),10 cases of organizing pneumonia,7 cases of lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia,9 cases of small airway disease (SAD) (including 8 cases of bronchiolitis obliterans and 1 case of follicular bronchiolitis),and 4 other lung manifestations (including 3 cases of diffuse alveolar hemorrhage and 1 case of rheumatoid nodules). The UIP group had the oldest average age [(63.3±12.1) years old] and the highest smoking rate (41.4%). The SAD group had the youngest average age [(54.7±15.1) years old] and there was no smoking history. There were significant differences between these two groups (=0.020,<0.001). Seventy patients (43.5%) with RA-LD were complicated with pleural lesions. RA involving the lung is common and has varied imaging manifestations,with interstitial lung diseases (mainly UIP and NSIP) being the most important manifestations. RA patients should undergo lung HRCT as early as possible to identify the lung involvement and related types.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; complications ; diagnostic imaging ; Female ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial ; diagnostic imaging ; etiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Young Adult

We present an unusual case of a patient with bilateral-lung transplantation due to severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), who subsequently suffered complications with acute myocardial infarction and underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Aged ; Betacoronavirus ; China ; Coronavirus Infections ; complications ; Humans ; Lung Diseases ; surgery ; virology ; Lung Transplantation ; Male ; Pandemics ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Pneumonia, Viral ; complications ; ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction ; surgery ; virology