AIM: The objective was to examine the prevalence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and its risk factors among patients with RA with diabetes mellitus (RA-DM) and patients with RA without diabetes mellitus (RAwoDM), and to evaluate lipid and blood pressure (BP) goal attainment in RA-DM and RAwoDM in primary and secondary prevention. METHODS: The cohort was derived from the Survey of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis from 53 centres/19 countries/3 continents during 2014-2019. We evaluated the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among RA-DM and RAwoDM. The study population was divided into those with and without ASCVD, and within these groups we compared risk factors and CVD preventive treatment between RA-DM and RAwoDM. RESULTS: The study population comprised of 10 543 patients with RA, of whom 1381 (13%) had DM. ASCVD was present in 26.7% in RA-DM compared with 11.6% RAwoDM (p<0.001). The proportion of patients with a diagnosis of hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and use of lipid-lowering or antihypertensive agents was higher among RA-DM than RAwoDM (p<0.001 for all). The majority of patients with ASCVD did not reach the lipid goal of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol <1.8 mmol/L. The lipid goal attainment was statistically and clinically significantly higher in RA-DM compared with RAwoDM both for patients with and without ASCVD. The systolic BP target of <140 mm Hg was reached by the majority of patients, and there were no statistically nor clinically significant differences in attainment of BP targets between RA-DM and RAwoDM. CONCLUSION: CVD preventive medication use and prevalence of ASCVD were higher in RA-DM than in RAwoDM, and lipid goals were also more frequently obtained in RA-DM. Lessons may be learnt from CVD prevention programmes in DM to clinically benefit patients with RA .

1st Department of Propaedeutic Internal Medicine University of Athens Athens Greece

1st Department of Propedeutic Medicine Medical School of University of Athens Athens Greece

1st Medical Faculty Charles University Praha Czech Republic

2nd Department of Medicine and Laboratory Clinical Immunology Rheumatology Unit National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine Athens Greece

3rd Department of Internal Medicine Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism Charles University 1st Faculty of Medicine Praha Czech Republic

Cardiology Trinity College Dublin Dublin Ireland

Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences Lucknow Uttar Pradesh India

Department of Internal Medicine 3 Nephrology Rheumatology and Endocrinology University Hospital Olomouc Olomouc Olomoucký Czech Republic

Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine Rheumatology Umeå Universitet Medicinska Fakulteten Umea Sweden

Department of Rheumatology Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust Dudley UK

Division of Rheumatology 2nd Department of Internal Medicine Gastroenterology Charles University 1st Faculty of Medicine Praha Czech Republic

Division of Rheumatology and Research Diakonhjemmet Hospital Oslo Norway

Division of Rheumatology Department of Internal Medicine Mayo Clinic Rochester Rochester Minnesota USA

Health Sciences Research Mayo Clinic Rochester Rochester Minnesota USA

Immunology and Rheumatology Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran Mexico City Mexico

Internal Medicine Rheumatology Harbor UCLA Medical Center Torrance California USA

Krajska zdravotni a s Masaryk Hospital in Usti nad Labem Usti nad Labem Czech Republic

Medicine Mount Sinai Hospital Toronto Ontario Canada

Medicine Tallaght University Hospital Dublin Ireland

Preventive Cardio Rheuma Clinic Division of Rheumatology and Research Diakonhjemmet Hospital Oslo Norway

Research Institute of Rheumatology Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Moskva Moskva Russian Federation

Rheumatology Charles University 1st Faculty of Medicine Praha Czech Republic

Rheumatology FSBI National Medical and Surgical Center named after N 1 Pirogov of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation Moskva Moskva Russian Federation

Rheumatology Hospital Universitario Marques de Valdecilla Santander Spain

Rheumatology Ivanovo State Medical Academy Ivanovo Ivanovskaa oblast' Russian Federation

Rheumatology Narodny Ustav Reumatickych Chorob Piestany Slovakia

Rheumatology Radboud University Nijmegen Nijmegen The Netherlands

Rheumatology Université Catholique de Louvain Louvain la Neuve Belgium

Rheumatology University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada

RMD Open. 2021 Aug;7(3):e001724corr1. doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2021-001724corr1. PubMed

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