title: Limiting cardiovascular risk in Irish rheumatoid arthritis patients.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Department, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. nambrose2001@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Ambrose
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Connell
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kearns
mesh_terms: 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