Screening for CVD risk in patients with RA can be performed like an assessment of the general population

LONDON — Cardiovascular risk screening in patients with rheumatoid arthritis can be conducted using risk scores developed for the general population, according to a speaker here at the EULAR Annual Congress.

“Cardiovascular [CVD] risk assessment in rheumatoid arthritis [RA] is now even simpler,” Naveed A. Sattar, PhD, FRCP, FRCPath, said.

Sattar said CVD risk scoring is easy to do in routine clinical practice. Rheumatologists can assess a patient’s CVD risk by adding data for the patient’s blood pressure and non-fasting lipids. In the European Union, he said the SCORE risk function is multiplied by 1.5 if the patient has RA.

“Overall, 1.5 is conservative and I think that makes sense. That is in the new [European Society of Cardiology] ESC CVD prevention guidelines,” he said.

Sattar said the assessment of risk scores can be integrated into RA clinics and should be repeated every 5 years if the patient’s risk is low or sooner if patients are close to potential CVD. He also said to check patients’ lipids, generally after treatment if possible.

“Actually, you can do it any time,” he said.

Sattar said that having RA does not necessarily mean patients are at high risk for CVD. However, rheumatologists need to consider the usual CVD risk factors, as these are important to determine whether patients should be recommended statins.

“However, statins work just as well in patients with RA,” he said. – by Kristine Houck, MA, ELS

Reference:

Sattar N. Abstract #SP0012. Presented at: EULAR Annual Congress; June 8-11, 2016; London.

Disclosure: Sattar reports he is a consultant for Roche, Astra Zeneca, Amgen, Sanofi and Merck, and is on the speakers bureau for Roche.