Greetings!

There is a high cardiovascular risk in most autoimmune diseases; it is an important cause of increased mortality. The unresolved question is: is it because of ongoing inflammation or because of the medications used for the treatment of these diseases? Recent meta-analysis results by Zingler G and his team, published in the September 2016 issue of Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol,¹ clearly shows that this risk is because of ongoing inflammation and that the use of NSAIDS reduces the risk significantly. In this paper, the authors examined the effect of NSAIDs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and inflammatory pain. Another large study from Taiwan, by Wu LC and his team, published in the Sptember 2016 issue of Medicine (Baltimore)² offered 10-year data on ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients. In this paper, the authors have shown that the use of coxibs and sulphasalazine had a negative association with coronary artery disease in AS patients. The study results of both these surveys show that inflammation that is the culprit for high cardiovascular events in autoimmune diseases and that if we treat it the condition effectively, this risk can be reduced.

References

1. Cardiovascular adverse events by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: when the benefits outweigh the risks. Zingler G et al, Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol. 2016 Sep 8:1-14. [Epub ahead of print]
2. Celecoxib and sulfasalazine had negative association with coronary artery diseases in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: A nation-wide, population-based case-control study. Wu LC et al, Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Sep;95(36):e4792. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000004792.