Greater risk of cardiovascular disease in rheumatoid arthritis - patients need to know
Greater awareness should be focused on the cardiovascular risk of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, says a leading arthritis charity, so that patients can then take steps to minimise that risk.
People with rheumatoid arthritis are much more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than the general population, but many patients are unaware of this, according to the Arthritis Research Campaign.
Now the charity is taking steps to warn people about the risks so that they can make the necessary lifestyle changes such as stopping smoking, losing weight, eating more healthily, and taking drugs such as aspirin or statins to lower their blood pressure or cholesterol.
Dr Holly John, a specialist registrar in rheumatology at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley has been awarded an Educational Research Fellowship of £183,430 from the Arthritis Research Campaign over three years to develop and evaluate new educational material which will be made widely available to patients.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a serious inflammatory type of arthritis affecting almost 400,000 people in the UK, which causes pain and stiffness in the joints. Less well-known is its effects on internal organs of the body such as the heart and lungs.
“The medical profession has appreciated the risks rheumatoid arthritis patients have of developing cardiovascular disease for the past ten to 15 years but this knowledge has been slow in filtering down to patients,” explained Dr John. “Some patients are aware of the risks, but many more are still unaware. Annual cardiovascular risk assessments should be carried out on these patients but are not routinely performed in all hospitals.”
Dr John said a good analogy was diabetes. Twenty years ago no-one knew about the links with diabetes and cardiovascular risk, now it is widely accepted and people with diabetes know they have to watch their cholesterol. “It’s the same with rheumatoid arthritis. This is not about frightening people unnecessarily: people need to know about the risks so that they can do something about it and be in control of their health.”
Dr John plans to consult both health professionals and patients themselves to find out what exactly patients need to be told about the cardiovascular risks. She will then test the best way of delivering this knowledge, whether it is through small group sessions between doctors and patients in hospital, or from a new booklet, or possibly both.
“We want knowledge to be translated into clinical benefit for patients and hope to show that knowing about these risks makes a tangible clinical difference,” she added.
- Dr John’s colleague Professor George Kitas was recently awarded joint funding of more than £1m by the Arthritis Research Campaign and the British Heart Foundation for a multi-centre clinical trial to establish the effectiveness of giving rheumatoid arthritis patients statins in reducing the number of deaths from heart attacks and strokes. (Please click here to read the press release and research summary relating to the statins trial).
