Review

Myocardial dysfunction in rheumatoid arthritis: epidemiology and pathogenesis

Jon T Giles¹ , Verônica Fernandes², Joao AC Lima² and Joan M Bathon¹

¹  Division of Rheumatology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

²  Division of Cardiology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

author email corresponding author email

Arthritis Research & Therapy 2005, 7:195-207doi:10.1186/ar1814

Published:	24 August 2005

Abstract

Data from population- and clinic-based epidemiologic studies of rheumatoid arthritis patients suggest that individuals with rheumatoid arthritis are at risk for developing clinically evident congestive heart failure. Many established risk factors for congestive heart failure are over-represented in rheumatoid arthritis and likely account for some of the increased risk observed. In particular, data from animal models of cytokine-induced congestive heart failure have implicated the same inflammatory cytokines produced in abundance by rheumatoid synovium as the driving force behind maladaptive processes in the myocardium leading to congestive heart failure. At present, however, the direct effects of inflammatory cytokines (and rheumatoid arthritis therapies) on the myocardia of rheumatoid arthritis patients are incompletely understood.