Key clinical point: The patients with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at an increased risk for ischemic stroke, particularly females and those without diabetes and dyslipidemia.
Major finding: The risk for ischemic stroke was significantly higher in the seropositive RA vs. control group (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.40; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-1.82). The risk for ischemic stroke was higher in females with seropositive RA vs. males (aHR, 1.44 vs. 1.12; P less than .001) and those without vs. with diabetes (aHR, 1.47 vs. 0.98; P less than .001) and dyslipidemia (aHR, 1.43 vs. 0.92; P = .008).
Study details: This was a nationwide, longitudinal 12-year follow-up study involving patients with seropositive RA (n=2,765) who were prescribed any disease-modifying antirheumatic drug and age- and sex-matched with control participants (n=13,825).
Disclosures: This study was funded by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Lee DH et al. PLoS One. 2021 May 17. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251851 .