Prevalence of allergic respiratory diseases in patients with RA
- G Provenzano1,
- G Donato1,
- G Brai2,
- F Rinaldi2
- 1Azienda Ospedaliera “Villa Sofia – CTO”, Divisione di Malattie dell'Apparato Respiratorio, Palermo, Italy
- 2Azienda Ospedaliera “V. Cervello”, Divisione di Medicina II, Palermo, Italy
- Correspondence to:
Dr G Provenzano, Via Massimo d'Azeglio No 2, 90143 Palermo, Italy;
giuseppe.provenzano5{at}tin.it
The balance between Th1 and Th2 cell activity is considered crucial in many autoimmune disorders.1,2 It has been suggested that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is T1 cell predominated,3 whereas atopic diseases are T2 cell directed.4 Some recent observations5,6 of a decreased prevalence of atopy in patients with RA have received a lot of attention.7 It has been suggested that a T2 cell related disorder such as atopy might have a protective role against the onset of a T1 cell mediated disease such as RA,8 and the biological importance of the Th1/Th2 paradigm has been emphasised.
We evaluated the prevalence of atopic respiratory diseases …
