SAN ANTONIO — Coronary artery calcification is significantly more prevalent in women with rheumatoid arthritis than in those without the disease, according to the findings of a case-control study.
Such evidence of calcification underscores the need for physicians who treat rheumatoid arthritis to address their patients' cardiovascular health, Amy H. Kao, M.D., said in an interview during the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.
Dr. Kao and her colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh obtained electron-beam computed tomography scans of the aorta and coronary arteries of 124 postmenopausal women with rheumatoid arthritis and compared them with those of 289 healthy female controls. The result: 68% of the women with rheumatoid arthritis had coronary artery calcification, compared with 45% of the healthy women.
The patients with rheumatoid arthritis were more likely than were the controls to smoke, to have a higher waist-to-hip ratio, and to have a higher diastolic blood pressure. They also were more likely to have low HDL cholesterol levels and were less likely to be taking aspirin, Dr. Kao noted in her poster presentation.
The rheumatoid arthritis patients ranged in age from 50 to 70 years; controls ranged in age from 53 to 65 years.
Overall, 68% of the women with rheumatoid arthritis had coronary artery calcification, 87% had any aortic calcification, and 61% had both. The percentages for the controls were 45%, 74%, and 39%, respectively.