{"id":163355,"date":"2026-07-05T21:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T21:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/thousands-of-arthritis-patients-could-have-hidden-deadly-lung-disease-researchers-find\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T21:00:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T21:00:49","slug":"thousands-of-arthritis-patients-could-have-hidden-deadly-lung-disease-researchers-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/thousands-of-arthritis-patients-could-have-hidden-deadly-lung-disease-researchers-find\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of arthritis patients could have hidden deadly lung disease, researchers find"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By MEIKE LEONARD, HEALTH REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published:<\/span>

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Thousands of arthritis patients could have a hidden deadly lung disease, a study has claimed.<\/p>\n

Rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition that affects more than 400,000 people in the UK<\/a>, is best known for causing joint pain and inflammation.<\/p>\n

But new research has linked it to a serious complication: rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD).<\/p>\n

This can cause severe scarring and inflammation in the lungs, making it hard to breathe.<\/p>\n

An international expert consensus statement, published in medical journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, has identified the key risk factors for developing RA-ILD.<\/p>\n

‘Rheumatoid arthritis doesn’t just affect the joints, it can also affect the lungs in ways that can significantly impact a person’s health and quality of life,’ said Dr Joshua Solomon, lead author of the study and director of interstitial lung disease at National Jewish Health.<\/p>\n

One in six rheumatoid arthritis patients will develop some sort of lung abnormality, research shows. One in ten will get RA-ILD.<\/p>\n

If caught early, it can be treated with medications that control inflammation, slow lung scarring and preserve breathing.<\/p>\n

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A study has claimed thousands of arthritis patients could have a hidden deadly lung disease<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Common therapies include immunosuppressant drugs as well as anti-fibrotic medications, which work to preserve lung function.<\/p>\n

When caught late the disease can lead to more severe outcomes and ultimately be deadly.<\/p>\n

Symptoms include an unexplained, persistent dry cough and shortness of breath during physical exertion, as well as general fatigue and weakness.<\/p>\n

Other, rarer, signs of the disease include velcro-like crackles in the lungs, clubbing of the fingers and toes and a hoarse voice.<\/p>\n

Being male, over 60 and having a history of smoking can all raise the risk of RA-ILD. Having more severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms can also contribute to its development.<\/p>\n

To address this, experts say, more patients should be screened for the condition if they match high-risk criteria.<\/p>\n

‘These recommendations provide practical guidance to help clinicians identify lung disease earlier, monitor patients more effectively and determine when treatment may be appropriate,’ said Dr Solomon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By MEIKE LEONARD, HEALTH REPORTER Published: 00:47 BST, 5 July 2026 | Updated: 00:53 BST, 5 July 2026 Thousands of arthritis patients could have a hidden deadly lung disease, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":163356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/07\/05\/00\/109801743-15953661-image-a-14_1783208805963.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news","category-recentpost"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/07\/05\/00\/109801743-15953661-image-a-14_1783208805963.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2027-01-05 23:04:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}