Arthritic Patients More Likely to Suffer from Cardiovascular Disease

People who suffer from arthritis are also more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease.

 

A new study examined 18,490 subjects and found that those who suffered from arthritis were also more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease. The authors believe that this is because arthritis causes difficulty with walking, and therefore the arthritic subjects were less likely to engage in heart-healthy physical activity.

 

Conclusions

This interesting study shows how these two seemingly different diseases can be connected. The authors’ assertions that the cardiovascular disease is increased due to lack of walking is interesting, but there are also other possibilities. Systemic inflammation has been shown to be a factor in both arthritis and cardiovascular disease, and it is possible that high inflammation levels may be the link between the two diseases.

 

References

Kendzerska, T., Jüni, P., King, L. K., Croxford, R., Stanaitis, I., & Hawker, G. A. (2017). The longitudinal relationship between hand, hip and knee osteoarthritis and cardiovascular events: a population-based cohort study. Osteoarthritis and cartilage25(11), 1771-1780.