Is rheumatoid arthritis dangerous

No RA is not fatal in itself. However the drugs required to keep it under control can reduce your life span by up to 10 years. As a matter of fact they can kill you outright if you are not careful with them. Then there is the added risk of infection and other problems that could lead to death indirectly. However on the whole no it is not fatal.
While Ra as such is mot likely to cause death there are underlying factors that can make those that have RA moresusceptible to infections cardiovascular diseases high blood pressure and a variety of other problem that can lead to an earlier death then to those without the disease. this is at present estimated somewhere between 10 and 5 years.