Key clinical point: Among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) mostly predicted atherosclerotic CVD (ASCVD), except for obesity, which was a risk factor for unprovoked venous thromboembolism (VTE).
Major finding: Obesity was associated with increased VTE risk (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14-1.89) and reduced ASCVD risk (aHR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.48-0.66). Other traditional CVD risk factors such as diabetes (aHR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.20-1.62), hypertension (aHR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.07-1.39), and chronic kidney disease (aHR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.10-1.66) predicted higher ASCVD risk.
Study details: The data come from an analysis of 31,366 patients with RA from a US-wide longitudinal observational registry, who did not have any prior CVD at baseline and active cancer throughout follow-up.
Disclosures: No sources of funding were reported. K Michaud reported receiving grant support from the Rheumatology Research Foundation. No competing interests were declared.
Source: Ozen G et al. RMD Open. 2021 Jun 30. doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2021-001618 .