Arthritis medications reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokesMarch 06, 2008Patients prescribed drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis could be at a reduced risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to a study published today in the open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy. An international team of researchers led by Antonio Naranjo of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, and colleagues in Argentina, Europe, and the USA have analyzed data from the QUEST-RA (Quantitative Patient Questionnaires in Standard Monitoring of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis) study. From this study, including 4,363 patients from 48 sites in 15 countries, the team has examined the causes and effects of rheumatoid arthritis, as well as the potential benefits of medications. Rheumatoid arthritis is a known risk factor for hardening of the arteries and so can lead to stroke and heart attacks occurring in sufferers ten years earlier than in people without the condition. However, earlier studies have shown that treating rheumatoid arthritis with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), such as methotrexate, may reduce this risk. The current research quantifies this risk reduction in thousands of patients in the QUEST-RA study.
Naranjo and colleagues found that risk, when adjusted for age, sex, disease activity, and traditional risk factors such as lack of exercise, smoking, diabetes, and high cholesterol levels, correlated strongly with the use of drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Taking methotrexate - the most widely used DMARD - for just one year for example was found to be associated with an 18% reduction in risk of heart attack and an 11% decrease in risk of stroke, the researchers say. "Our study provides further support of the influence of both traditional and RA specific risk factors in the development of cardiovascular events, especially heart attack" the researchers conclude, "As assessed by this study, the risk was lower with the prolonged use of methotrexate, sulfasalazine, glucocorticoids, leflunomide and TNF-α blockers." In an accompanying editorial, Dr Ronald van Vollenhoven of Karolinska Institute, Sweden, reviews the research article. "The possibility that antirheumatic therapy decreases the risk for cardiovascular complications is tantalizing," writes the author. "The current study, while not exactly proving this point, adds a further measure of support to the concept, and suggests that it must now be formally addressed. BioMed Central | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
Related Rheumatoid Arthritis News Articles Loss of sleep, even for a single night, increases inflammation in the body Loss of sleep, even for a few short hours during the night, can prompt one's immune system to turn against healthy tissue and organs. Bone marrow stem cells may help control inflammatory bowel disease Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have found that infusions of a particular bone marrow stem cell appeared to protect gastrointestinal tissue from autoimmune attack in a mouse model. Researchers discover how rheumatoid arthritis causes bone loss Researchers have discovered key details of how rheumatoid arthritis (RA) destroys bone, according to a study published in the Aug. 22 edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Protein complementarity may offer new insights into autoimmune diseases The discovery of "complementary" antibodies against plasminogen in patients with blood vessel inflammation caused by anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCAs) may lead to new approaches to research, testing, and treatment of ANCA vasculitis and other autoimmune diseases, suggests a paper in the December Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). New Guidelines for Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis Proven combinations of medicines and the introduction of new anti-arthritis drugs have significantly improved the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to guidelines issued by the American College of Rheumatology and co-authored by physicians at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Once suspect protein found to promote DNA repair, prevent cancer An abundant chromosomal protein that binds to damaged DNA prevents cancer development by enhancing DNA repair, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science. Pediatric researchers find possible 'master switch' gene in juvenile arthritis Researchers have found that a gene region known to play a role in some varieties of adult rheumatoid arthritis is also present in all types of childhood arthritis. The researchers say the responsible gene may be a "master switch" that helps turn on the debilitating disease. Small protein may have big role in making more bone and less fat A small protein may have a big role in helping you make more bone and less fat, researchers say. Complexity of Crohn's disease revealed as 'gene' count tops 30 New research has trebled the number of genetic regions known to be implicated in Crohn's disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, to over thirty. Heavy birthweight babies twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis Heavy birthweight female babies are twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis in adulthood as their average birthweight peers, suggests research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. More Rheumatoid Arthritis News Articles |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||