Life expectancy for Americans has gone up over the past four decades, but a recent study suggests that people with rheumatoid arthritis are not sharing in this positive trend. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota report that life expectancy for this group has not improved at all. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis may be functioning better than in the past, but they are not living longer.

When the Mayo Clinic researchers compared the survival of patients with RA to that of people from the community without RA, patients with RA had significantly worse survival in all three groups. The survival rate among those newly diagnosed with RA during the study period were also worse. They found that the risk of mortality in RA is roughly 38% greater than in the general population. This risk was more pronounced in women with RA, who had a 55% increased risk, compared to women in the general population.'

For example, the life expectancy for an average 50 year old woman in Minnesota is 34 years, while that for a 50 year old women with RA is four years less at 30 years. For men, the differences were less: an average 50 year old could expect to live 27 years, while a man with RA could expect 26 additional years of life. People with RA have not enjoyed the survival benefits that would be expected for people of the same age and sex from the same community over the past 3 decades.

The Journal of Rheumatology 1999;26:2529-2533