Is rheumatoid arthritis a dangerous disease?

Does rheumatoid arthritis kill?

Well, rheumatoid arthritis can cause intense inflammation that can, in time, lead to joint deformities but this is not the reason why it could be a dangerous disease. Yes, it is not the development of deformities that can make rheumatoid arthritis a dangerous and even killer disease of course. It is other associations of uncontrolled chronic inflammation in the body. By this we mean an important complication in the blood vessels called atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is narrowing of the lumen of the blood vessels. It is potentially dangerous and can cause strokes or heart attacks. The good news here is that atherosclerosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, if it develops, will take so many years to develop in untreated patients with aggressive disease. This means patients have repeated good chances to take corrective and preventive actions and to start on appropriate treatment for their disease with the rheumatologist.