Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a known risk factor in hardening of the arteries which in turn leads to strokes and heart attacks on average 10 years earlier than people without RA. Previous studies that have shown that treating rheumatoid arthritis with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), such as methotrexate, may reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. A current study now quantifies the reduction in risk experienced by these RA patients.

A team of researchers from Argentina, Europe and the U.S. analyzed data from the Quantitative Patient Questionnaires in Standard Monitoring of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (QUEST-RA). This data represents a multinational, cross-sectional cohort of outpatients with rheumatoid arthritis who were receiving regular clinical care.

The researchers were analyzing the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in RA patients, the association of RA with traditional cardiovascular risk factors, the clinical features of RA and the benefits of the use of DMARDs.

Information on 4,363 participants in the QUEST-RA study was collected from 48 sites in 15 countries. 78% of the patients were female, over 90% were Caucasian, the average age of the research group was 57 years and the average length of the disease was 11 years.

The researchers found that patients taking methotrexate for just 1 year experienced an 18% reduction in the risk of heart attack and an 11% reduction in the risk of stroke. This was after adjusting the risk for age, sex, disease activity, and other traditional risk factors, such as lack of exercise, smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol levels.

“Our study provides further support for the influence of both traditional and RA-specific risk factors in the development of cardiovascular events, especially heart attacks,” the researchers wrote. “As assessed by this study, the risk was lower with the prolonged use of methotrexate, sulfasalazine, glucocorticoids, leflunomide and TNF-alpha blockers.”

The results of the study were published in the March 5 issue of the open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy.