RESEARCH - Increased incidence of and impaired prognosis after acute MI among patients with RF+ RA

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Ann Rheum Dis. 2006 Jul 19; [Epub ahead of print] Related Articles,

Increased incidence of and impaired prognosis after acute myocardial

infarction among patients with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis.

Sodergren A, Stegmayr B, Lundberg V, Ohman ML, Wallberg-Jonsson S.

Dept of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, University Hospital, Umea,

Sweden.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the incidence and outcome of acute myocardial

infarction (AMI) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared with

the general population, and to examine whether care and treatment of an AMI

differs between patients and controls. METHODS: The northern Sweden MONICA

register was used to compare the incidence of AMI in a cohort of RA patients

with the general population. Thirty-five RA patients who had also suffered

an AMI were identified. For each patient with RA, three controls with a

history of AMI but without RA were randomly collected from the same

register, and matched for age, sex and year of the AMI for evaluation of

case fatality (CF) and potential differences in AMI treatment. RESULTS: SIR

for AMI was 2.9 in RA patients compared with the general population

(p<0.05). During the first 10 years following an AMI, RA patients had a

higher overall CF compared with controls (HR=1.67, 95%CI [1.02, 2.71]).

Survival time was decreased in the RA group compared with controls despite

the same care and treatment.

CONCLUSION: Both the incidence of, and the CF after an AMI was higher among

RA patients compared with the general population. The results emphasize the

necessity of optimising the preventive, diagnostic and caring strategies for

AMI in RA.

PMID: 16854951

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=1\

6854951

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