Life Expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. In common language, it is the average number of years one can continue to live for at a given age. For example, life expectancy at birth for the U.S. population was 78.7 years in 2010. It means that, assuming the life style and medical technology etc do not change in the future, babies born in 2010 will on average die at 78.7 years old.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) itself is not fatal. However, RA is often associated with conditions such as hardened or blocked heart arteries, lung scarring, lymphoma, and these associated conditions can be fatal. In general, life expectancy of RA patients may be shorted by 10 to 15 years.
This is a scientific application. The calculation is anonymous. The only information we need is your age and gender. We did not ask for your name, address, phone number etc.