November - 20 - 2009
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have about two times the risk of cardiovascular disease as the general population, according to a study by Dutch researchers. The study compared 353 outpatients with RA and 1,852 participants in a population-based cohort study, 155 of whom had diabetes. In patients with RA, the three-year incidence of cardiovascular disease was 9 percent, versus 4.3 percent in the general population. In addtion, compared with the general population without diabetes, RA patients without diabetes had a hazard ratio for cardiovascular disease of 2.16, and patients with type 2 diabetes had a hazard ratio of 2.04. In light of these results, lead author Dr. Michael T. Nurmohamed of VU Medical Center in the Netherlands, said that "cardiovascular risk management is mandatory." The study is published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.