Prevalence of cardiac and aortic enlargement in rheumatoid arthritis and its relationship to some characteristics of the patients. A radiological and clinical study.

The chest radiographs of 309 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were compared with those of 309 controls matched for sex and age. Cardiac enlargement was more frequent in RA females than in controls (P less than 0.05) and the frequency of aortic shadow enlargement was higher in RA patients aged greater than or equal to 60 years than in controls (P less than 0.05). Both cardiac and aortic enlargement was significantly related to several parameters of the severity and the activity of RA, corticosteroid therapy, and elevated blood pressure. A high mortality was present in patients with aortic enlargement and in patients with ECG signs of myocardial ischaemia.