ArticleRMD open2025
Lung ultrasound outperforms symptom-based screening to detect interstitial lung disease associated with rheumatoid arthritis.
Article in RMD open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Diagnostic methods of rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease: a systematic review.Rheumatology international · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Clinical and pulmonary function-based identification of HRCT-confirmed rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- International evidence-based recommendations for point-of-care lung ultrasound : 2025 focused update of the 2012 recommendations.Intensive care medicine · 2026Article
- Emerging prospective evidence shows that lung ultrasound can reliably detect rheumatoid arthritis-associated ILD: need for standardised protocols and consideration in future guidelines.The European respiratory journal · 2026Article
- Interstitial lung disease in psoriasis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Sarcoidosis, vasculitis, and diffuse lung diseases : official journal of WASOG · 2026Article
- The Role of Ultrasound Pleural Irregularities in the Identification of Interstitial Lung Disease in Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Article
- Advances in the Diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease: Integrating Conventional Tools and Emerging Biomarkers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- The prevalence of interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review.Rheumatology advances in practice · 2026Review
- Newly Onset Dyspnea During Pregnancy.Chest · 2025Article
- Rheumatoid Lung Disease.Mediterranean journal of rheumatology · 2025Review
- Validation of "Clinical Red Flags" for RA-ILD in an Italian cohort.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesInterstitial lung disease associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA-ILD) is linked to high mortality. Currently, effective screening tools are lacking. We assessed the role of symptoms and lung ultrasound (LUS) as potential screening tools.
methods116 adult patients with RA presenting to the rheumatology outpatient clinic underwent high-resolution CT (HRCT) scans, pulmonary function tests, LUS (72 zones) and completed a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for cough and modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea scale (mMRC). Kruskal-Wallis (KW) tests evaluated the correlation between clinical-radiological HRCT score (no ILD, non-specific abnormalities, subclinical ILD or ILD) and the B-lines on LUS, diffusion capacity (DLCO%pred), forced vital capacity (FVC%pred), VAS Cough and mMRC. Sensitivity and specificity analyses were performed to assess symptom-based questionnaires and the number of B-lines to detect RA-ILD. Area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) for detecting clinical ILD and subclinical ILD were calculated.
resultsIn 11.8% of patients, an ILD was detected on HRCT. Additionally, in 5%, a diagnosis of subclinical interstitial lung changes was made. The number of B-lines was most strongly associated with the clinical-radiological score (KW χ²=41.2, p=<0.001). DLCO%pred was also significantly correlated with the clinical-radiological score (KW χ²=27.4, p=<0.001), but FVC%pred, mMRC and VAS cough were not. Cough and dyspnoea only weakly predicted the ILD score in the sensitivity-specificity analyses, while B-lines showed AUROCs>0.9 for predicting subclinical and clinical ILD.
conclusionLUS is a promising tool for early detection of RA-ILD, outperforming symptom-based questionnaires or the presence of dyspnoea or cough.
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