Rheumatoid Arthritis Boosts Heart Disease Threat

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Treatments -- such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, analgesics and physical therapy -- focus primarily on controlling pain and limiting inflammation and joint destruction.

For the new study, Kremers and her colleagues set out to predict the onset of heart disease over the course of a 10-year period among more than 1,100 people, approximately half of whom had just been diagnosed with RA. The patients were 57 years old, on average, and nearly three-quarters were women.

The patients were evaluated on standard indicators for heart disease risk, as detailed by the American Heart Association. The indicators included: gender; having a family history of heart disease; having diabetes; and/or being black. Patients were also examined for other risk factors, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Risky lifestyle habits -- including smoking, lack of exercise, and being overweight -- were also considered, the researchers said.

Based on the risk-assessment scores, the researchers assigned the patients to one of five different risk categories for heart disease -- ranging from very low to very high risk. Then the patients were tracked for an average of 12 to 14 years, during which time all incidences of heart attack, heart failure, heart surgeries, and cardiovascular-related deaths were noted.

The researchers found that while 85 percent of the RA patients between the ages of 50 and 59 had an intermediate or high risk for developing heart disease within 10 years of diagnosis, just 27 percent of comparable non-RA patients did. Among patients between the ages of 60 and 69 at the start of the study, 100 percent of the RA patients had an intermediate or high risk for heart disease, compared with 79 percent of non-RA patients.

When looking at just "high risk" among the 60 to 69 age group, the difference was even more dramatic: 85 percent for RA patients, compared to just 40 percent for non-RA patients.

The researchers concluded that more than half of RA patients 50 to 59, and all RA patients over the age of 60, had a 10 percent or greater risk of developing heart disease within 10 years of an RA diagnosis.