Inflammatory Arthritis Plus Hypothroidism Increases Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

It is known that inflammatory types of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Dutch study results, published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, have revealed that inflammatory arthritis patients who also have hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) are at even higher risk for cardiovascular disease.

Of 1,500 inflammatory arthritis patients in the study, 6.5% of women and 2.4% of men also had hypothyroidism compared to 3.9% of women and 0.8% of men without inflammatory arthritis. After adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors, researchers found that women with both inflammatory arthritis and hypothyroidism had 3.7 times higher rate of cardiovascular disease than the control group which consisted of women with neither condition. There were not enough men with both conditions to draw a conclusion. Have you discussed your thyroid status with your doctor?

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