GLOMERULONEPHRITIS IN RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS

Glomerulonephritis is rarely a complication of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) despite the observation of significant amounts of circulating immune complexes in both glomerulonephritis and RA (1). Among 5,232 patients with a diagnosis of RA, hospitalized at the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences from 1955 to 1977, glomerulonephritis was diagnosed in only 4 patients, all of whom also met diagnostic criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus or mixed connective tissue disease. We present a well documented case of proliferative glomerulonephritis in association with RA in the absence of another immunologically mediated disease. Copyright © 1979 American College of Rheumatology