Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and seem to develop more severe acute coronary syndromes (ACS) than the general population. Because few studies have investigated the CAD distribution in the context of acute or stable CAD in RA, the objective was to investigate whether this risk is due to a different distribution and severity of coronary stenoses (versus non-RA), resulting in clinical manifestation of CAD.
We performed a population-based study using linkages of nationwide clinical, health, and demographics registers. We compared 1 cohort of patients with RA, and 1 matched cohort of patients without RA, undergoing a first coronary angiography from 2006 through 2015. Cardiovascular (CV) characteristics and the presence and distribution of clinically significant stenoses were compared (through odds ratios [ORs]), stratified by indication (stable CAD, ST-elevation myocardial infarction [STEMI], and non-ST-elevation ACS [NSTACS]), using logistic regression.
We identified 2,985 patients with RA and 10,290 patients without RA who underwent a first coronary angiography. A higher proportion of patients with RA (75% versus 69%) had STEMI and NSTACS as indication for angiography. We found no difference in the presence and distribution of clinically significant coronary stenoses in RA compared with the patients without RA, regardless of the CAD type (for having any significant stenosis in stable CAD OR 0.9, STEMI OR 0.8, and NSTACS OR 1.1), stratification by RA duration, sex, or burden of concomitant CV risk factors.
Although RA may accelerate the development of clinical CAD events, the underlying angiographic characteristics are similar to those in patients without RA.