The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 NewsACR Convergence
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Psoriatic Arthritis Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
    • Interprofessional Perspective
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
      • Psoriatic Arthritis
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Cardiovascular Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Cardiovascular Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis

July 10, 2012 • By Katherine P. Liao, MD, MPH

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

“I think you are wrong to want a heart. It makes most people unhappy. If you only knew it, you are in luck not to have a heart.”

You Might Also Like
  • Researcher Studies Ways to Cut Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients
  • Better Blood Pressure Screening Needed to Manage Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs May Cut Cardiovascular Risk
Explore This Issue
July 2012

—The Wizard of Oz to the Tin Woodman

The heart, symbolically and literally, is a subject of introspection and study for humans throughout history. For patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their rheumatologists, the heart is a cause of concern because patients with RA have an increased risk of heart disease compared with the general population.1 In fact, RA patients were found to have a higher mortality rate than expected due to cardiovascular disease (CVD).2 This increased risk of CVD is attributed to the chronic inflammation associated with the RA.3 A big question facing rheumatologists is what we can do to improve management of heart disease in RA patients. To do so, we need to answer three important questions:

  1. How do we estimate risk of CVD in RA?
  2. Which interventions decrease CVD risk?
  3. What should be the targets of the interventions?

Although we don’t have definitive answers to these questions, this article will provide an overview of what we know so far.

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

An Educated Guess

Uncle Henry and Aunt Em didn’t need to see the cyclone to know it was coming and to call for Dorothy and run for cover; all they needed was their intuition about the risk of a cyclone approaching based on the signs in weather preceding its appearance. Years of clinical practice provide us with intuition about the risk of heart disease in our patients. However, in an ideal world, we would have hard evidence to back our treatment decisions.

For some patients, aggressive primary preventive therapy (e.g., a target low-density lipoprotein (LDL) of 100 mg/dL) is an obvious goal, regardless of their formal Framingham Risk Score. I recently met a new patient, a 55-year-old man with seropositive RA for five years who has hypertension, is overweight, and is living a sedentary lifestyle. His family history is notable for his father who died of sudden cardiac death at the age of 57. Pertinent findings include his nonsmoking status, a blood pressure of 125/80 mmHg (on antihypertensive therapy), a total cholesterol of 192 mg/dL, and a high-density lipoprotein (HDL) of 40 mg/dL. Although his fasting LDL was 128 mg/dL, a reasonable level according to national guidelines, I started him on a statin drug after his first visit. In most cases, the choice for treatment is not that obvious. My clinical intuition often tells me that a particular patient is at higher risk, but how much higher?

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 | Single Page

Filed Under: Conditions, Rheumatoid Arthritis Tagged With: cardiovascular, Cardiovascular disease, patient care, Research, Rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatologistIssue: July 2012

You Might Also Like:
  • Researcher Studies Ways to Cut Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients
  • Better Blood Pressure Screening Needed to Manage Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs May Cut Cardiovascular Risk
  • Cardiovascular Disease Rate Differs Between SLE Patients of Different Races, Ethnicities

ACR Convergence

Don’t miss rheumatology’s premier scientific meeting for anyone involved in research or the delivery of rheumatologic care or services.

Visit the ACR Convergence site »

Simple Tasks

Learn more about the ACR’s public awareness campaign and how you can get involved. Help increase visibility of rheumatic diseases and decrease the number of people left untreated.

Visit the Simple Tasks site »

American College of Rheumatology

Visit the official website for the American College of Rheumatology.

Visit the ACR »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use / Cookie Preferences

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2023 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)