Amyloidosis as a cause of death in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

To study amyloidosis as a cause of death along with associated factors and frequency of pre-mortem diagnosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) autopsied between 1952 and 1991. We studied causes of death in 369 consecutively autopsied RA and 370 autopsied non-RA patients of the same sex, age at death, and year of autopsy. In those RA patients who died from 1973 onwards, we were also able to analyse clinical data: pre-mortem diagnosis of amyloidosis, clinical features of RA, and treatment. Based on autopsy, amyloidosis was determined as a cause of death in 9.5% of RA and in none of the non-RA patients (p