Rheumatoid Arthritis Raises Cardiovascular Risk: What Can Lower It?

(CBS) Stiff, painful joints joints may not be the only thing people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have to worry about.

A new study suggests that inflammation associated with the disease can trigger a dangerous buildup of fatty plaques inside the carotid arteries in the neck, raising the risk for stroke and heart attack.

The good news? Some drugs used to treat RA slow plaque buildup, a process doctors call atherosclerosis.

"These data suggest that by limiting inflammation in RA patients, you can potentially limit the rapidity of accumulation of - at least - carotid atherosclerosis, which is what our study looked at," the study's lead researcher, Dr. Jon T. Giles, assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins, said in a written statement. "And because carotid atherosclerosis tends to be correlated with coronary atherosclerosis, then potentially you would have fewer cardiovascular events," such as stroke and heart attack.

Dr. Giles' team followed 158 people with RA, using ultrasound scans to check for the presence of atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries. They found that atherosclerosis progressed significantly in most of the people - but that the rate of progression was affected by the medications being taken to control the disease.

Atherosclerosis seemed to progress more rapidly in people taking prednisone, and slower in people taking statins and so-called "TNF inhibitors," including drugs like infliximab (Remicade) and adalimumab (Humira).

An estimated 1.3 million Americans have RA, a chronic disease that causes pain, swelling, and limited movement in joints throughout the body. Women are roughly twice as likely as men to have RA.