Sustained Improvement of Arterial Stiffness and Blood Pressure after Long-Term Rosuvastatin Treatment in Patients with Inflammatory Joint Diseases: Results from the RORA-AS Study.

Objective: Patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) have a high prevalence of hypertension and increased arterial stiffness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of long-term rosuvastatin treatment on arterial stiffness, measured by augmentation index (AIx) and aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), and blood pressure (BP) in IJD patients with established atherosclerosis.

Methods: Eighty-nine statin naïve IJD patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaque(s) (rheumatoid arthritis n = 55, ankylosing spondylitis n = 23, psoriatic arthritis n = 11) received rosuvastatin for 18 months to achieve low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goal ≤1.

Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs improve cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy in psoriatic arthritis.

Background: Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is a significant risk predictor for sudden cardiac death in autoimmune rheumatic diseases. As yet, there is no therapeutic treatment of CAN in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Even now, the impact of the most commonly employed disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy on CAN in PsA is not known.

Association of Chest Pain and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease with Coronary Atherosclerosis in Patients with Inflammatory Joint Diseases.

Objectives: The relation between chest pain and coronary atherosclerosis (CA) in patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) has not been explored previously. Our aim was to evaluate the associations of the presence of chest pain and the predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) by use of several CVD risk algorithms, with CA verified by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) coronary angiography.

Methods: Detailed information concerning chest pain and CVD risk factors was obtained in 335 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.

Rosuvastatin improves endothelial function in patients with inflammatory joint diseases, longitudinal associations with atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis: results from the RORA-AS statin intervention study.

Introduction: Endothelial dysfunction is an early step in the atherosclerotic process and can be quantified by flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD). Our aim was to investigate the effect of long-term rosuvastatin therapy on endothelial function in patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) with established atherosclerosis. Furthermore, to evaluate correlations between change in FMD (ΔFMD) and change in carotid plaque (CP) height, arterial stiffness [aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) and augmentation index (AIx)], lipids, disease activity and inflammation.

The Impact of Newer Biological Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs on Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A 12-Month Longitudinal Study in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated with Rituximab, Abatacept and Tociliziumab.

Objectives: To assess whether treatment with one of three novel biological DMARDs; rituximab, abatacept or tocilizumab reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: This is an open, observational and prospective study with visits at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Patients were assigned to receive rituximab, abatacept or tocilizumab according to clinical indications assessed by an independent rheumatologist.

EULAR task force recommendations on annual cardiovascular risk assessment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis: an audit of the success of implementation in a rheumatology outpatient clinic.

Objective: EULAR recommendations for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk management include annual CVD risk assessments for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We evaluated the recording of CVD risk factors (CVD-RF) in a rheumatology outpatient clinic, where EULAR recommendations had been implemented. Further, we compared CVD-RF recordings between a regular rheumatology outpatient clinic (RegROC) and a structured arthritis clinic (AC).

On the HUNT for cardiovascular risk factors and disease in patients with psoriatic arthritis: population-based data from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study.

Objective: To compare the presence of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and established CV disease in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and the general population and to compare the 10-year risk of a fatal CV event calculated by the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) algorithm.

Methods: Patients with PsA (n=338) and controls (n=50 468) were recruited from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study 3. Age-adjusted and sex-adjusted prevalence rates of CV risk factors and comorbidity were calculated and the SCORE algorithm was applied.

CRP and ASDAS are associated with future elevated arterial stiffness, a risk marker of cardiovascular disease, in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: results after 5-year follow-up.

Objective: To identify factors associated with elevated arterial stiffness in a 5-year follow-up of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Methods: C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), Bath AS disease activity index (BASDAI) and AS disease activity score (ASDAS) were recorded in 2003, and arterial stiffness (Augmentation Index (AIx) and pulse wave velocity (PWV)) in 2008/2009. Patients were grouped into quartiles according to baseline CRP, ESR and BASDAI and four ASDAS groups.

Prediction of cardiovascular risk in rheumatoid arthritis: performance of original and adapted SCORE algorithms.

Objectives: Predictive performance of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk calculators appears suboptimal in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A disease-specific CVD risk algorithm may improve CVD risk prediction in RA. The objectives of this study are to adapt the Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) algorithm with determinants of CVD risk in RA and to assess the accuracy of CVD risk prediction calculated with the adapted SCORE algorithm.

ESC guidelines adherence is associated with improved survival in patients from the Norwegian Heart Failure Registry.

Aims: To assess the adherence to heart failure (HF) guidelines for angiotensin-converting enzyme-I (ACE-I), angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB), and β-blockers and the possible association of ACE-I or ARB, β-blockers, and statins with survival in the large contemporary Norwegian Heart Failure Registry.

Methods And Results: The study included 5761 outpatients who were diagnosed with HF of any aetiology (mean left ventricular ejection fraction 32% ± 11%) from January 2000 to January 2010 and followed up until death or February 2010. Adherence to treatment according to the guidelines was high.

Cardiovascular disease assessment in rheumatoid arthritis: a guide to translating knowledge of cardiovascular risk into clinical practice.

As physicians we like to have evidence for making decisions about interventions to improve health. The evidence vacuum in the field of cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and clinical outcome in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has received vigorous attention in the recent literature. There is broad agreement that a patient with RA fulfilling the criteria established for the general population on CVD risk reduction should receive proven interventions, including smoking cessation, weight reduction, blood pressure control and lipid-lowering therapy.

Treatment to lipid targets in patients with inflammatory joint diseases in a preventive cardio-rheuma clinic.

Objectives: To perform cardiovascular risk stratification in patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) and treat to lipid targets according to recommendations.

Methods: We initiated a preventive cardio-rheuma clinic based on the unmet need of adequate cardiovascular prevention in IJD patients. A full cardiovascular risk stratification was performed at the first consultation (history of conventional risk factors and of cardiovascular disease, lipid measurement, blood pressure and ultrasound examination of both carotid arteries), and the patient was classified to either a primary or secondary cardiovascular prevention regime, or to have a low risk (no intervention).