An estimated 1.3 million Americans have rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a disease that causes pain, stiffness, swelling, and limited mobility and function of multiple joints. It can cause inflammation in major organs as well. The chronic inflammation caused by RA is linked to heart disease and stroke.
Researchers from the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands studied 855 RA patients with no history of heart disease or stroke and recorded the amount of disease activity each person was experiencing over time.
The researchers also estimated the probability of developing heart disease within the first 10 years of being diagnosed with RA, and compared this with the risk after more than 10 years of RA disease.
What they found was that the important factor wasn’t the amount of time that people had RA, it was the level of inflammation they had. In fact, only in those patients where the disease activity was so low that it was hardly present was the risk of these complications reduced.
The study shows that it’s important to treat RA to achieve remission not only to prevent joint destruction and functional losses but also to decrease the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
If you have RA, talk to your doctor to find out the best way to achieve remission of the disease. It’s the best thing you can do for your heart.
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