Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease primarily affecting joints but often also associated with lung involvement such as bronchiectasis (BE). The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis is to provide an update on the current evidence regarding the prevalence and association between RA and BE. This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines with literature search using the terms ‘Bronchiectasis AND Rheumatoid Arthritis’ without a date limitation on PubMed during May 2020. A total of 28 studies fulfilled the predefined criteria and were included in the present review, with 19 being cross-sectional studies. Twenty-three studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence estimate was 2.69% (95% CI 1.63–4.42) in clinically defined BE, and 24.9% (95% CI 19.21–31.67) in radiologic disease. Many inconsistencies exist regarding potential risk factors for BE in RA patients such as gender, RA duration and severity, as both negative and positive associations have been reported. Although very little is known about possible causative mechanisms between RA and BE, potential pathways might be antigenic stimulation from pulmonary mucus and/or systemic inflammation from joint disease affecting the lungs. At present, the available evidence of bronchiectasis in patients with RA is insufficient to identify RA-associated risk factors for the development of BE, possibly apart from duration of RA, and, consequently, also to fully explore a possible causal relationship between the two disease. However, the increased prevalence of BE in RA patients warrants further studies to explore the association between RA and BE.

类风湿性关节炎 (RA) 是一种慢性自身免疫性疾病，主要影响关节，但通常也与肺部受累有关，例如支气管扩张 (BE)。本系统评价和荟萃分析的目的是提供关于 RA 和 BE 之间的患病率和关联的当前证据的更新。本系统评价和荟萃分析是根据系统评价和荟萃分析的首选报告项目 (PRISMA) 指南进行的，使用术语“支气管扩张和类风湿性关节炎”进行文献搜索，2020 年 5 月在 PubMed 上没有日期限制。共有 28 项研究符合预定标准并被纳入本综述，其中 19 项为横断面研究。23 项研究被纳入荟萃分析。汇总的患病率估计值为 2。在临床定​​义的 BE 中为 69% (95% CI 1.63–4.42)，在放射学疾病中为 24.9% (95% CI 19.21–31.67)。关于 RA 患者 BE 的潜在风险因素，如性别、RA 持续时间和严重程度，存在许多不一致之处，因为已经报告了负相关和正相关。尽管对 RA 和 BE 之间可能的致病机制知之甚少，但潜在的途径可能是来自肺粘液的抗原刺激和/或来自影响肺部的关节疾病的全身炎症。目前，RA 患者支气管扩张的现有证据不足以确定 RA 发生 BE 的风险因素，可能除了 RA 的持续时间，因此也不能充分探讨这两种疾病之间可能的因果关系. 然而，