Newly developed cardiovascular risk factors in rheumatoid arthritis patients initiating biologic treatment.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a risk factor (RF) for cardiovascular (CV) disease, a leading cause of mortality in RA patients. Consecutive records of RA patients with high disease activity screened upon biologic therapy initiation were reviewed between January 2001 and 2018. Patients with at least 6-month follow-up and baseline disease activity scores were enrolled ( Overall, mean (SD) patient age was 51.4 (±12.2) years, and 291 (82.4%) subjects were female. Median follow-up was 41.9 (IQR 18.6, 80) months. Overall, 89 (25.2%) individuals developed at least one new CV RF, of which 65 (18.4%) acquired one and 24 (6.8%) two or more. Incident lipid disorders (42, 11.9%), followed by hypertension (14, 4%), atrial fibrillation (17, 4.8%) and venous thromboembolism (VTE) (16, 4.5%), were common. Incident major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were not reported in the vlCVrisk group, in contrast to atCVrisk ( Patients with RA initiating biologics should be screened for cardiometabolic risk factors, especially at an older age. The presence of at least one risk factor may be linked to a worse long-term prognosis.

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Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Type of conflict of interest: Małgorzata Banaszkiewicz, Krzysztof Batko, Aleksandra Gołąb, Dariusz Plicner, and Wojciech Zaręba declare no conflict of interest.