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Biomedical subjects

O Mutru

Publications and source records attributed to O Mutru.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

Abnormalities in left ventricular diastolic function in male patients with rheumatoid arthritis without clinically evident cardiovascular disease.

Epidemiological studies have suggested that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have increased mortality due to cardiovascular disease. We studied cardiac performance in 12 asymptomatic male patients with RA and 14 control subjects to elucidate early disturbances in cardiac function. In echocardiography, isovolumic relaxation time was longer (64 +/- 6 vs. 49 +/- 3 ms, mean +/- SEM, P = 0.010) and peak filling rate (134 +/- 10 vs. 159 +/- 6 mm s-1, P = 0.015) lower in patients with RA than in control subjects, reflecting an impairment in left ventricular diastolic function. Left ventricular systolic function assessed by radionuclide angiocardiography at rest and during exercise was similar in both groups. There were no differences between the patients with RA and control subjects in the heart rate, systolic blood pressure and oxygen uptake during peak exercise. Left ventricular diastolic function is impaired in spite of normal left ventricular systolic function in patients with RA without clinically evident cardiovascular disease and this may contribute to the excess of cardiovascular mortality in patients with RA.

Adult↗

Cardiovascular mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 500 men and 500 women, aged 40 years and over, together with a control population matched by age and sex were followed up with respect to cause-specific mortality over a 10-year period. The overall mortality was significantly higher in both men and women with RA than in the controls. A statistically significant increase in mortality from all cardiovascular diseases (p less than 0.001) and cardiac diseases (p = 0.004) was observed in men with RA but not in women with RA compared to corresponding controls. No difference in mortality from cerebrovascular diseases was observed between RA patients and controls.

Adult↗

Sulfasalazine in the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis. A twenty-six-week, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Eighty-five patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) were randomized to receive either sulfasalazine (less than or equal to 3 gm/day, mean 2.5) or placebo for 26 weeks. There was a statistically significant improvement, compared with baseline, in most of the clinical variables in patients receiving the active drug. Laboratory parameters (erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, IgG, IgM, and IgA) also improved during the active treatment, suggesting a beneficial effect of sulfasalazine on AS. At the end of the treatment, significant differences between the sulfasalazine and placebo groups were observed in morning stiffness, chest expansion, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and in all immunoglobulin classes. Two patients in each treatment group discontinued the trial because of side effects. Enteric-coated sulfasalazine seemed to be effective and well tolerated in patients with active AS.

Analysis of Variance↗

Mortality from amyloidosis and renal diseases in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 500 men and 500 women, aged 40 years and over, together with a control population matched by age and sex, were observed over a 10 year period. The overall mortality was significantly higher in both men and women with rheumatoid arthritis than in the controls due to an excess mortality from infections and cardiovascular and renal diseases. During the follow up 31 patients with RA (12 male, 19 female) and one male control subject died from amyloidosis and 42 RA patients (19 male, 23 female) and one male control from renal diseases. The most important causes of renal deaths were chronic nephritis and renal infections.

Adult↗

Death certificate and mortality in rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 500 males and 500 females, aged 40 years and over, together with an age- and sex-matched control population, were observed over a 10-year period. Altogether 208 male and 148 female RA patients died during the follow-up period. RA was mentioned on the death certificates of 111 men (53%) and for 96 women (65%). Serious underreporting of RA was observed when the main cause of death was malignant neoplasms and diseases of the circulatory system. The results show that analysis of the causes of death can be highly biased if the RA diagnosis is based only on information on the death certificate.

Adult↗

Cancer mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 500 males and 500 females, aged 40 years and over, together with an age and sex matched control population, were observed over a 10-year period. The overall mortality was significantly higher in both men and women with RA than in the controls. During the followup, 42 patients with RA (28 males, 14 females) and 58 control subjects (36 males, 22 females) died from malignant neoplasms, but this difference was not statistically significant. A significant excess of deaths from neoplasms of the hematopoietic system was observed in patients with RA. Subjects without RA had significantly higher mortality rate from cancer of gastrointestinal origin than patients with RA.

Adult↗

Ten year mortality and causes of death in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Five hundred men and 500 women, aged 40 or over, with rheumatoid arthritis, together with a control population matched for age and sex, were observed over 10 years. During that time 352 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (208 men, 144 women) and 221 controls (148 men, 73 women) died. The overall mortality was significantly higher (p less than 0.0001) in both men and women with rheumatoid arthritis than in the controls. Infections and cardiovascular and renal diseases (especially amyloidosis) appeared to be the main causes of death in rheumatoid arthritis.

Adult↗

Xerostomia in Sjögren's syndrome treated with Sali-Synt. A double-blind cross-over trial.

In a double-blind cross-over trial, a new synthetic saliva Sali-Synt was compared with placebo for the treatment of xerostomia in Sjögren's syndrome. Sali-Synt may soothe the pain in the mouth and reduces sleep disturbances better than placebo, but no statistically significant differences were found. Seven patients of 12 preferred Sali-Synt to placebo in helping xerostomia.

Adult↗

Quantitative sacro-iliac scintigraphy. I. Methodological aspects.

Methodological aspects of quantitative sacroiliac scintigraphy (QSS) using [99mmTc]methylene diphosphonate (MDP) were studied. To improve the diagnostic value of QSS it is important to understand the errors involved in the calculated indices. The accumulated radioactivity in the sacro-iliac joint, compared with that in the sacral bone (SI ratio), decreased linearly with age, by about 24% from the age of 15 years to 71 years. The post-injection time of scintigraphy was not critical, if the scintigraphy was carried out after 2.5 hours. Although the variances of the SI ratios in our control material were relatively high, the repeatability of the SI ratio measurement was 3.9%. The influence of measuring geometry on the QSS and the acceptability of the sacrum as the reference area were tested.

Adolescent↗

Diclofenac sodium (Voltaren) and indomethacin in the ambulatory treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: a double-blind multicentre study.

In a double-blind crossover trial conducted on a multicentre basis, 109 patients with "classic" or "definite" rheumatoid arthritis were treated for two weeks with diclofenac sodium (Voltaren, 25 mg t.i.d.) and indomethacin (25 mg t.i.d). Both drugs led to a clear-cut decrease in morning stiffness, as well as to a significant improvement in pain at rest and on movement. In these respects no significant difference between the two-drugs was observed. As regards their effect on status of rheumatoid condition, however, a trend towards a significant improvement was discernible, in the investigator's opinion, only in response to diclofenac sodium. "Unwanted effects" were mentioned by 25 patients before the trial, by 31 during treatment with diclofenac sodium, and by 33 during treatment with indomethacin. While the patients were receiving indomethacin, five of them discontinued treatment on account of side effects (headache in three cases, headache and tiredness in one case, and an allergic skin reaction in one case) and one of them, who complained of headache, lowered the dosage; treatment with diclofenac sodium was discontinued because of side effects by only one patient, who had developed an allergic skin reaction.

Adult↗

Death rate and causes of death in RA patients during a period of five years.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 500 males and 500 females, aged 40 years or over, together with an age and sex matched control population, were observed over a 5-year period. During the follow-up 176 RA patients and 107 controls died. The most common causes of death in RA patients were cardiovascular diseases (86 patients), renal failure (33 patients), infections (23 patients), and malignant neoplasms (21 patients); in the controls, the corresponding data are cardiovascular diseases (53), malignant neoplasms (30), infections (9), and accidents (8).

Adult↗

Causes of death in autopsied RA patients.

Among 3115 autopsied patients, rheumatoid arthritis was registered in 41 patients (1.3%). The causes of death of these were correlated with the causes of death of 310 non-rheumatoid autopsied patients. Of the RA patients, 32% died from cardiovascular disease, 24% from infection, 27% from renal failure and 7% from malignant disease. Of the control patients, 42% died from cardiovascular disease, 9% from infection, 3% from renal failure, and 23% from malignant disease. The low frequency of malignant disease as a cause of death in RA patients may be due to a continuous immunological stimulation or due to a missed diagnosis of RA in patients who died from malignant disease.

Adolescent↗

Prolonged treatment with tolfenamic acid in inflammatory rheumatic diseases.

The aim of this study was in the first place to elucidate the tolerance of rheumatic patients to prolonged treatment with tolfenamic acid. 91 patients took part in the trial, most of them suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. The daily dose of tolfenamic acid was 600 mg and the trial lasted 6 months. The side-effects were usually slight: diarrhea occurred in 8, other gastrointestinal disturbances in 11, dysuria in 8 and other side-effects in 3 cases. Six patients broke off their treatment because of side-effects ascribed to tolfenamic acid. However, laboratory tests failed to show any significant changes caused by this drug. One case of reversible thrombopenia was seen in a patient who had also received gold treatment. On the whole, the clinical effect was found to be good, and tolfenamic acid appeared to be well suited for long-term symptomatic treatment of rheumatics.

Adult↗

Death rate and causes of death in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 500 males and 500 females, aged 40 years or over, and an age- and sex-matched control population were observed over a 3-year period. During the follow-up, 122 RA patients and 69 controls had died. The most common causes of death in RA patients were cardiovascular diseases (57 patients), renal failure (27 patients), infections (19 patients), and malignant neoplasms (11 patients); in the controls, the respective data are: cardiovascular diseases (35 people), malignant neoplasms (21 people), accidents (7 people), and infections (5 people).

Adult↗