Introduction: There is a significantly higher cardiovascular mortality in Rheumatoid arthritis(RA) compared to general population. Higher cardiovascular mortality is due to an interplay of persistent chronic inflammation of vascular endothelium as a result of high disease activity along with the higher prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors like dyslipidemia, hypertension, obesity and smoking. Another contributing factor could be the widespread use of glucocorticoids in RA, which increases carotid intimal thickening. There are only very few studies in Asian population on the relevance of cardiovascular risk factors in RA patients. Here we highlight the lipid abnormalities in RA patients along with assessment of CV risk score and heart age of RA patients. Methods: The study was conducted at a Government Medical College in North Kerala, India. RA patients aged between 16 and 80 years who satisfied the ACR-EULAR 2010 criteria attending the Rheumatology clinic during a period of 1 year were studied in comparison with matched controls. Results: There is statistically significant difference (p value 0.001)in mean total cholesterol level (TC) between the RA group (204.7+42.9 mg/dl) and controls(181.1+40.3 mg/dl). Similar statistically significant difference in the mean LDL cholesterol levels were noted between the RA cases and controls (133.1+39.8 vs 116.7+32) (p value 0.006). RA patients had a higher cardiovascular risk score and heart age compared to general population, demonstrating higher risk for cardiovascular events in such patients. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of assessment of CV risk factors in RA patients to improve CVD outcome.
