Introduction:

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory, autoimmune disease, characterized by chronic, additive, symmetrical polyarthritis, which can present with extra-articular manifestations (ExAM), associated with greater morbidity and mortality. Objective: to describe the most frequent ExAM in RA. Methods: a descriptive, cross-sectional and retrospective study was carried out to review the medical records of patients diagnosed with RA, during the period December 2011-January 2022. Results: 150 patients with RA participated, with an average age of 53.7±12.5 years, the predominant sex was female with 84.6%, the evolution time of RA was 7.2±8.9. years; Regarding serological characteristics, 91.1% had positive Rheumatoid Factor and 76.9% had positive antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptides. Both upon admission and at the last consultation, patients presented some extra-articular manifestation (ExAM), 61.3% and 70%, respectively, with the most frequent being chronic anemia (at admission 44.6% and at last consultation 50.6%), followed by rheumatoid nodules (at admission with 8% and at the last consultation 9.3%). Conclusions: ExAM occurred in 70% of patients, the most frequent being anemia and rheumatoid nodules. These data show the changes in the frequency of ExAM in the disease over time.

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