Common causes of nephropathy in RA:
(1) amyloidosis
(2) NSAID-related renal injury
(3) other forms of analgesic nephropathy
(4) membranous glomerulopathy secondary to disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDS) such as gold or penicillamine
(5) concurrent disease (diabetes, hypertension)
Less often causes:
(1) rheumatoid vasculitis
(2) thrombotic microangiopathy secondary to antiphospholipid antibody
(3) overlap syndrome with SLE or other autoimmune disorder
(4) antibodies against targeted antibodies (to TNF-alpha, other) with serum sickness
(5) glomerulopathy unexplained by other cause (mesangioproliferative, other)
Renal monitoring should include:
(1) serum creatinine
(2) routine urinalysis
(3) sensitive measures of urine proteinuria and albuminuria
(4) estimates of glomerular filtration rate (GFR)
