Current Arthritis News and Research » heart disease

Arthritis a Barrier to Heart Disease Management

awesome — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:46:40 +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

Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

No related posts.

RA Drugs may also Reduce Cardiovascular Risk

awesome — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:00:13 +0000

A - Right cartoid artery; B - Normal artery; C - Plaque buildup in artery

Studies have indicated that people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) also have higher risks for developing cardiovascular disease and strokes than the general population. The reasons for this have not been clear. But a recent study does seem to shed some light on a potential culprit.

Researchers believe that inflammation, such as experienced in RA, may contribute to atherosclerosis, a build-up of plaque in arteries. They also found that drugs currently used to treat RA may also reduce RA patient’s risk of artery plaque build up and heart disease.

This study included 158 RA patients who were given an ultrasound exam of the carotid arteries to assess the thickness of the artery walls at the start of the study. Another ultrasound was given about three years later.

For this study, researchers gave 158 RA patients two ultrasounds three years apart to assess the thickness of their carotid artery walls. (Two common carotid arteries, one on each side of the neck, branch off into smaller internal and external arteries that deliver blood to the brain and face.) About two-thirds of the participants in the study were female, and the average age was 59 years at the beginning of the study.

The differences between the scans showed that 82 percent of the participants had some thickening in their common carotid artery, while 70 percent had thickening in the internal carotid artery. Those participants who were treated with anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) medications, such as adalimumab (Humira) or infliximab (Remicade), had a 37 percent lower rate of thickening in their common carotid artery compared to people not on the medication.

The researchers also found that not all medications were helpful. People who took corticosteroids, such as prednisone, had an increased risk of carotid thickening, unless they were also taking a cholesterol-lowering medication known as a statin. Statin use seemed to counter the negative effect of the steroid, according to the study.

“One key finding of our study was that RA patients had to have both high levels of inflammation and higher numbers of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, like high blood pressure, diabetes, etc., in order for inflammation to be a risk factor for carotid plaque progression” – Dr. Jon T. Giles, lead investigator and assistant professor of medicine in the division of rheumatology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore

Giles also noted that high levels of inflammation in the body were associated with increased plaque deposits.

The study results were presented at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in Atlanta in November.

Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

No related posts.

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.