RA Diagnosis Doubles Heart Attack Odds

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Interesting article about RA and Risk of Heart Attack:

RA Diagnosis Doubles Heart Attack Odds

Diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis Increases Heart Attack Risk Within

10 Years, but Most Treatments Reduce Risk

By Kathleen Doheny

WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Klodas, MD, FACC

Oct. 30, 2008 -- Getting a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis doubles

the risk of having a heart attack within the next 10 years, according

to Swedish researchers presenting their findings this week at the

annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in San Francisco.

But that disturbing news was tempered by other research finding that

medications to lower cholesterol may lower the risk and that all but

one commonly used medication to treat RA also appear protective of the

heart.

http://tinyurl.com/dnzn2e

The one commonly used medication to treat RA that is not protective of

the heart is prednisolone.

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Sue