News: Rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease

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Rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease

Fri 01 Jul 2005 03:03 pm CST

AUSTIN (myDNA News)

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Patients that have developed rheumatoid arthritis are believed to have

an increased chance of acquiring heart disease, according to research

in the journal Arthritis.

In the study, researchers examined 75 patients newly diagnosed with

coronary artery disease (CAD) that had previously been diagnosed with

rheumatoid arthritis and 128 CAD patients without the debilitating

disease. After documenting certain factors, such as heart surgeries or

previous cardiovascular events, they found that patients with

rheumatoid arthritis had significantly more clogged arteries than

normal CAD patients. Similarly, rheumatoid arthritis patients were more

likely to die from a cardiovascular event than patients without both

conditions.

The research team hypothesized that the correlation between the two

ailments relies on the occurrence of a certain type of T-cell, CD4 CD28

null T-cells, which is known to cause inflammation in the body, a

common factor in the development of heart disease.

Dr. Lahita, member of the American College of Rheumatology,

believes that the study gives substantial evidence to the link between

T-Cells, rheumatoid arthritis, and coronary artery disease.

" In these patients (who have rheumatoid arthritis), it would seem

theoretically natural to see these (T-cells) attack vessels of the

body. ... Now we have hard data to back this up. "

http://www.mydna.com/resources/news/200507/news_20050701_rhe.html