Paper Summary:

This paper presents recent research in atherosclerosis that has yielded surprising results, as more and more dimensions of inflammatory/autoimmune diseases begin to show themselves as essential aspects of the disease. The paper explains that though this research is in its infancy, the prior research on rheumatoid arthritis as well as late coming connections between the incidence of one and the incidence of the former are being found occurring simultaneously between the two disorders, both of which show a higher mortality rate together and when atherosclerosis appears as inflammatory in nature. The paper discusses the early findings that demonstrate connectivity between both incidence of rheumatoid arthritis and atherosclerosis and the similarities between the two disorders, both of which serve as a distinctive element of future research and growth of alternative treatments for the previously mysteries outcomes of varied degrees of atherosclerosis and its equally mysterious prognosis based upon the degree of damage done to coronary and circulatory arteries. This paper contains illustrative figures and graphs.

From the Paper:

"Researchers and clinicians have been seeking the so called "holy grail" of atherosclerosis for a long time, having previously and possibly falsely associating incidence with high LDL cholesterol, a link which has been questioned almost from its inception but has led to significant treatment modalities for the reduction of LDL being utilized in high risk and non-high risk patients. Systemic inflammation may then prove to be one of the most effective and cost effective tools for the development of screening tools for patients with and without RA who may develop atherosclerosis. Early detection is essential to halting the progression in both groups and recent RA findings indicate that associating high levels of general inflammation in all patients is a good screening tool for atherosclerosis. See Figure 2 for cIMT comparisons between early onset RA and control studies."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hannawi, S. Haluska, B. Marwick, T. H. & Thomas R. (2007) Atherosclerotic Disease is Increased in Recent-onset Rheumatoid Arthritis: a Critical role for Inflammation Arthritis Research & Therapy 9:R116doi:10.1186/ar2323 Retrieved September 28, 2008. http://arthritis-research.com/content/9/6/R116.
• Margolis, S. (February 2007) Atherosclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Johns Hopkins Medicine NP Retrieved September 28, 2008. http://health.yahoo.com/experts/heartdisease/3614/atherosclerosis-and-rheumatoid-arthritis/
• Montecucco, F. & Mach, F. (October 16, 2008) Common Inflammatory Mediators Orchestrate Pathophysiological Processes in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Atherosclerosis. Rheumatology, doi:10.1093/rheumatology/ken395 Retrieved October 28, 2008. http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/ken395
• Pasceri, V., Yeh, E. T. H. (1999) A Tale of Two Diseases: Atherosclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association 100, 2124-2126. Retrieved October 2, 2008. http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/100/21/2124
• Ravnskov, U. Is Atherosclerosis Caused by High Cholesterol? QJM: AN International Journal of Medicine. 95, 397-403. Retrieved October 1, 2008. http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/95/6/397

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