Limiting cardiovascular risk in Irish rheumatoid arthritis patients.
BACKGROUND
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death.


OBJECTIVE
Our aims were: (1) to assess how thoroughly RA patients were being screened for cardiovascular risk factors in our outpatient population and (2) to evaluate the benefit of introducing a shared care cardiovascular booklet.


METHODS
We assessed 80 patients who attend our service with RA. Our initial audit revealed that 80% of patients had not been thoroughly assessed for basic cardiovascular risk. Based on these findings, we created a shared care booklet.


RESULTS
On re-auditing our service, we found a significant improvement in the assessment of cardiovascular risks.


CONCLUSIONS
There is currently a low level of screening for cardiovascular risks in busy outpatient clinics. We felt the introduction of a shared care booklet allowed an increased level of screening in our clinics and also acted as a tool for doctor and patient education.
Ambrose
N L
NL
Rheumatology Department, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. nambrose2001@yahoo.co.uk
O'Connell
P
P
Kearns
G
G
D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008403:Mass Screening; D008485:Medical Audit; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors