Current Arthritis News and Research » heart disease

Arthritis a Barrier to Heart Disease Management

awesome — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:22:10 +0000

According to a new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), over half of Americans with heart disease also have arthritis. They also found that people that have both diseases are less likely to physically active than those with only heart disease.

The study is one of the first to measure the relationship between the two diseases as well as the impacts of arthritis on physical activity of those with heart disease.

“People with arthritis often fear physical activity will worsen their pain – and that’s a major myth,” said Patience White, MD, MA, chief public health officer for the Arthritis Foundation.

Chad Helmick, M.D., a co-author of the study and medical epidemiologist with the CDC, says adults with arthritis and heart disease have unique barriers to being physically active such as concerns about pain, aggravating or worsening joint damage and not knowing how much or what types of physical activity are safe for them.

Research shows that participating in joint-friendly activities such as walking, swimming, biking and arthritis-specific exercise programs can help manage both conditions. For patients with heart disease, physical activity helps to lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels. For those who have arthritis, physical activity reduces pain, improves function and delays disability.

This is similar to a study from 2008 by the CDC found that more than half of adults with diabetes also had arthritis and those patients that had both diseases were more likely to have higher levels of inactivity. This also led to problems managing both diseases.

The study was published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) on February 27th .

Originally posted 2009-03-26 14:29:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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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

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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.

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