A new study has indicated that use of a combination of anti-TNF drugs and methotrexate significantly reduces the risk of heart attack in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine studied RA patients who were treated with anti-TNF drugs, methotrexate, or other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
The findings of the trial were presented at the recent College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Boston.
A total of 19,233 patients with RA were identified - 13,383 took methotrexate, 14,958 took other DMARDS and 4,943 took anti-TNF treatments.
Over the course of the study 441 patients suffered heart attacks.
It was found that patients on a combination of anti-TNF drugs and methotrexate treatment had a heart attack risk of only 20 per cent of that of someone taking methotrexate alone.
"TNF-inhibitor therapy, in combination with methotrexate, dramatically reduces the risk of heart attacks in patients with RA and should be seriously considered - especially in high-risk patients," explained Dr Gurkirpal Singh.
In an interview with Reuters, Dr Singh added: "By suppressing systemic inflammation strongly with a combination of TNF inhibitor-methotrexate therapy, you see strong beneficial positive effects on inflammation not only in the joints but in the coronary arteries, presumably, which leads to lower heart attacks and deaths from heart attacks."
An Arthritis Research Campaign spokesman said the study backed up recent UK research which showed that patients who had a good response to anti-TNF therapy had a markedly reduced risk of heart attack compared to RA patients whose condition did not respond to anti-TNF therapy, suggesting that suppressing inflammation reduced cardiovascular risk.
http://www.arc.org.uk/news/article/18353943They are finding more and more these days that patients aren't only getting RA in the joints but in the lungs, kidneys, heart etc.