OP0314 Is Cardiovascular Risk Management in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Effective? Two Year Follow Up Reveals Unexpected Rise in Cardiovascular Risk!

Background The Dutch cardiovascular risk management (CV-RM) guideline considers rheumatoid arthritis (RA) an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), for which CV-RM is necessary. Objectives To investigate the effect of CV-RM interventions (blood pressure lowering therapy and lipid-lowering therapy) on the 10-year CV risk in patients with RA. Methods Consecutive RA patients visiting Reade, a large outpatient rheumatology clinic, were included in this study. CV risk screening was performed at baseline, after one and two years, and included a lifestyle questionnaire, physical examination, laboratory investigations and assessment of the 10-year CV risk. The Dutch CVRM guideline classifies a risk Results In total, 350 patients were included in the Amsterdam CV-RM cohort at the time of analysis. Seventy-two patients had undergone two rescreening9s. Of those patients, 76% were female, the mean age at baseline was 62 years and 5 had a history of CVD. After two years, the overall 10-year risk increased significantly from 21.7% to 26.2% (p Conclusions Despite implementing CV-RM in RA patients, we found an unexpected overall increase in 10-year CV risk. This might be a reflection of undertreatment of both hypertension and dyslipidemia as many patients who had an indication to use preventive medications do not receive adequate treatment, despite of repeated screening. Obviously, CV-RM guidelines are poorly performed in RA patients and need to be optimized. References Dutch Multidisciplinary Guideline “Cardiovascular risk management” (Second Revision), Huisarts Wet 2012;55:14-28. Disclosure of Interest None declared