Ten year mortality and causes of death in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Five hundred men and 500 women, aged 40 or over, with rheumatoid arthritis, together with a control population matched for age and sex, were observed over 10 years. During that time 352 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (208 men, 144 women) and 221 controls (148 men, 73 women) died. The overall mortality was significantly higher (p less than 0.0001) in both men and women with rheumatoid arthritis than in the controls. Infections and cardiovascular and renal diseases (especially amyloidosis) appeared to be the main causes of death in rheumatoid arthritis.