Rheumatoid arthritis is a connective tissue disease characterized by articular and systemic involvement. Hematological abnormalities such as anemia may occur in up to 65% of the patients, with chronic disease anemia being the commonest form. Autoimmune hemolytic anemia can be associated with different connective tissue diseases, particularly systemic lupus erythematosus and it is part of its classification criteria. On the other hand, the presence of autoimmune hemolytic anemia in rheumatoid arthritis has rarely been described in the literature and the pathogenic mechanisms for its development remain unclear. We describe here a case of rheumatoid arthritis and another of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis that developed to autoimmune hemolytic anemia and present the probable etiopathogenic mechanisms.
Rheumatoid arthritis; autoimmune hemolytic anemia