May 22, 2012

Mayo Clinic: Standard Heart Disease Risk Tools Underrate Danger in Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Heart disease risk assessment tools commonly used by physicians often underestimate the cardiovascular disease danger faced by rheumatoid arthritis patients, a Mayo Clinic study has found… "This study emphasizes that patients with rheumatoid arthritis are at higher risk for heart disease, and that conventional predictors of risk are not adequate for estimating this risk. Physicians caring for patients with rheumatoid arthritis should be aware of this heightened risk even when conventional risk factors seem to indicate no increased risk, and consider measures to assess and lower CV risk in these patients," says co-author Eric Matteson, M.D., chairman of Mayo Clinic's rheumatology division.

Additional coverage: News Medical

 

Science Codex

Tags: Cardiology, Dr. Eric Matteson, heart disease, Research, rheumatoid arthritis, Rheumatology, Science Codex

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