Comorbidities and Mortality in Patients with Rheumatic Joint Diseases

Rheumatic joint diseases are increasingly seen as systemic diseases. Systemic manifestations and comorbidities such as cardiovascular risk, fatigue, depression, osteoporosis and increased mortality have gained clinical and scientific attention in recent years. Therapeutic efforts may be complicated by the risk of infection as well as chronic lung or renal diseases. In contrast, cognitive impairment and sexual dysfunction have hardly been evaluated in clinical studies and are probably not sufficiently addressed between patients and clinicians. A systematic approach to evaluate for and manage comorbidities is necessary to reduce mortality and improve quality of life for patients, but is currently not part of reimbursement in the public health sector.