Current Arthritis News and Research » heart attack

Rheumatoid Arthritis Doubles Heart Attack Risk

awesome — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 17:51:16 +0000

Marie Gunnarsson, a graduate student at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweeden presented results of a research study this week at the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting in San Francisco. The focus of the study was the relationship between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the risk of a heart attack.

Actually, she wanted to delve further into the issue than that. Previous studies have demonstrated the RA increases the risk of heart attack. Her question was how quickly does the risk increase.

For her analysis, Ms. Gunnarsson used data from 7,954 Swedish patients who had been newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and matched them with 38,913 people without RA as controls. Both groups were followed for 10 years and data was collected on heart attacks, heart related deaths and deaths from other causes.

What she found was that before their diagnosis, RA patients did not have a higher risk of hear attack. After the diagnosis, however, the heart attack risk rose steadily.

During the 10 year period after being diagnosed, the RA patients suffered nearly twice as many heart attacks and heart attack deaths as the controls. This was even after adjusting the data for high blood pressure and diabetes.

Said Ms. Gunnarsson, “The fact that there is no increased risk prior to RA diagnosis suggests that there is something in the RA disease itself, such as inflammatory processes, that lead to this increased risk.”

Originally posted 2008-11-03 12:00:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

Rheumatoid Arthritis Linked to Increased Risk of Stroke Researchers in the United Kingdom recently investigated the incidence of...
Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs Protect Heart A recent study has determined that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients...
More Evidence Rheumatoid Arthritis Increases Cardiac Risks In a third study reported on at last week’s American...

Cardiovascular Risks Vary for Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

awesome — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:29:10 +0000

In a previous post we discussed the findings of a research team from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota on the relationship between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Their report indicated that there are risk factors that can identify RA patients who are at high risk for development of cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Sherine Gabriel of the Mayo Clinic, lead author of the previous study, and her colleagues have issued another report on the link between RA and cardiovascular disease. This report, published in the January, 2008 issue of the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, looked at the frequency of traditional cardiovascular risk factors to determine the impact of these factors on selected cardiovascular events, such as heart attack, heart failure and cardiovascular-related death.

The study group consisted of 603 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 603 patients without RA.

Initially, both groups had similar cardiovascular risks. During the follow up periods, 15 years for the RA group, 17 years for the non-RA group, the RA patients were more likely to lose weight, and less likely to develop abnormally high or low levels of cholesterol.

The team did find that gender, smoking and personal cardiac history resulted in different cardiovascular risk impacts on RA vs. non-RA patients. Specifically, men who smoked and had a personal cardiac history had a lower increase in risk of cardiovascular disease than non-RA males that smoked and had a personal cardiac history.

This indicates that there are different mechanisms in rheumatoid arthritis patients that lead to cardiovascular disease. The weaker effect of some of the traditional risk factors indicates that traditional approaches for controlling cardiovascular risks may not have the same benefit for RA patients.

The report concluded that additional research is needed to detect the underlying factors that determine rheumatoid arthritis-associated cardiovascular disease and mortality so therapeutic approaches can be developed.

Originally posted 2008-01-08 18:06:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

No related posts.

Treatment of Kawasaki Disease with Bypass Surgery is Effective

awesome — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:14:13 +0000

Kawasaki disease is an inflammation of the blood vessels known as vasculitis. It typically develops in young children with over 80% of patients under the age of 5, affects boys more than girls, and a higher percentage are of Asian ancestry. This inflammation can lead to severe inflammatory heart and blood vessel damage.

According to the American Heart Association, Kawasaki disease is the most common cause of pediatric coronary artery disease with more than 4,000 new diagnoses each year. As many as a quarter of those will develop cardiac problems.

A recently completed 25-year follow up study has shown that coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), or bypass surgery, provides long-term benefits for adolescents and children who have Kawasaki disease with cardiac involvement.

To evaluate the long-term success in patients who had undergone CABG surgery, Dr. Soichiro Kitamura, of the National Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Japan, and his colleagues followed 114 patients for up to 25 years. All of the patients had bypass surgery between the ages of 1 and 19 years old.

Of these 114 patients, 95% were still alive 25 years later, and most of them were free from any limitations in daily activities, according to Dr. Kitamura. Even though the number of cardiac events increased through the 25 year follow-up, the majority of the events were managed successfully.

There were five deaths among the patients that were tracked, all cardiac in nature. All of these patients had a history of heart attack and frequent irregular heart beat.

At the conclusion of follow-up, three quarters of the surviving patients were taking one to six medications. They were all taking aspirin. Other medications included warfarin, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, calcium antagonists, diuretics, nitrates, statins, and beta-blockers.

All of the survivors were symptom free at the last checkup and 80% did not have any limitations in performing daily activities. Most could play sports.

The researchers stated that Kawasaki disease has been increasingly treated with early gamma-globulin administration and PCI instead of surgery, although the long-term benefits of these therapies remain unknown.

According to the researchers, “prolonged observation is mandatory for these patients. By employing early additional therapeutic procedures such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and redo operations, the patients’ survival and quality of life were favorably influenced during 25 postoperative years.”

Dr. Kitamura performed the first bypass grafts in patients with Kawasaki disease in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The research was published online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

No related posts.

More Signs That Rheumatoid Arthritis Affects Heart

awesome — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:00:36 +0000

I wrote on Monday about a study presented at the American College of Rheumatology’s (ACR) annual meeting in San Francisco. In that research study, a graduate student from Sweden found that people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) had nearly twice the risk of heart attack and death from heart attack of those without RA.

Another research study presented at ACR meeting also indicates that people with RA have an increased risk of heart problems as those without RA.

The researchers in this study, led by Dr. Hilal Maradit Kremers, found that a condition known as diastolic dysfunction can lead to heart failure. Diastolic dysfunction is an abnormality in the left ventricle of the heart which causes blood returning from the lungs to spill back into the left atrium and eventually back into the lungs. This condition results in stiffness of the heart and can lead to heart failure.

The team followed 38 RA patients who had suffered a heart attack. They compared these patients to patients with RA who had not had a heart attack.

The team’s analysis showed that the patients with rheumatoid arthritis were 45% more likely to develop heart failure after a heart attack compared with the general population. They also found that RA patients had a 75% greater risk of dying from heart failure.

“Rheumatoid arthritis patients not only have more heart attacks and heart failures, but they also have worse prognosis once they have a cardiovascular event,” said Dr. Kremers.

Dr. Kremers is an epidemiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

Rheumatoid Arthritis Doubles Heart Attack Risk A Swedish graduate student has presented findings from a study...
Cause of Gout May Also Predict Heart Failure A researcher looking at the relationship between gout and heart...
Rheumatoid Arthritis Linked to Increased Risk of Stroke Researchers in the United Kingdom recently investigated the incidence of...

Gout Increases Heart Attack Risk

awesome — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:20:25 +0000

Gout is a form of arthritis that is caused by an excess of uric acid in the bloodstream. This causes crystals to form in the joints, typically in the big toe.

Results of a recent research project, carried out by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, indicates that people with existing risk factors for heart disease may have an increased risk for heart attack or stroke if they also develop gout.

The study involved over 9,000 men who were between 41 and 63 years old. They all had above average risk for heart disease, with factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure and smoking.

The researchers found that after 17 years the men who developed gout were 30% more likely to die from cardiac arrest or other cardiovascular disease than those without gout.

Not all men with elevated uric acid levels develop gout. Men in this study that had high levels of uric acid, but did not develop gout, did not have a higher risk of cardiovascular related death.

This study supports the findings in a 2004 study of 1,423 middle aged Finnish men. That research found that men with excess uric acid in the blood had a 250% greater risk of death from cardiovascular disease than those with normal levels.

One theory is that an excess of uric acid in the bloodstream causes “oxidative stress”, which results in the LDL cholesterol being oxidized. Oxidized LDL is viewed as more dangerous because it causes hardening and narrowing of the arteries.

Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

Cause of Gout May Also Predict Heart Failure A researcher looking at the relationship between gout and heart...
More Genes Linked to Risk of Gout A more recent study conducted by researchers in the U.S....
Rheumatoid Arthritis Doubles Heart Attack Risk A Swedish graduate student has presented findings from a study...