In a study from Cleveland Clinic, scientists found after having a heart attack, people with autoimmune disease are more likely than others to die or experience further serious heart problems, including a second heart attack.
The study helps fill a gap in what’s known about the long-term cardiovascular health of people with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and lupus.
According to estimates from the National Institutes of Health, up to 8% of people in the U.S. have an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system attacks the body’s own organs, tissues and cells.
In the study, the team used 2014-2019 data for people 65 and older from a government database of all inpatient Medicare hospital bills in the U.S.
The researchers matched records for 59,820 heart attack patients who had inflammation-causing autoimmune disorders with records of 178,547 heart attack patients without the autoimmune conditions.
Patients were followed for about two years after their heart attacks.
Their most common autoimmune conditions were rheumatoid arthritis, followed by systemic lupus, psoriasis, systemic sclerosis and myositis/dermatomyositis.
The team found that after a heart attack, people who had an autoimmune disease were 15% more likely to die from any cause than those who didn’t have an autoimmune condition.
They were 12% more likely to be hospitalized for heart failure and 8% more likely to have another heart attack.
They were also 6% more likely to have a second procedure to open their arteries if they had one following their heart attack.
The team says patients with autoimmune disease and cardiovascular disorders should be managed by a cardio-rheumatologist working with a rheumatologist.
Autoimmune diseases are known to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, perhaps because people who have them also tend to have more traditional cardiovascular risk factors, including high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and kidney disease.
And, because of their autoimmune disease, people typically have chronic inflammation and autoimmune antibodies and commonly use steroid medications, all of which have been associated with higher cardiovascular disease risks.
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The study was conducted by Dr. Amgad Mentias et al and published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
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