title: Traditional Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Management in Rheumatoid Arthritis Compared to Matched Nonrheumatoid Arthritis in a US Managed Care Setting.
abstract: To compare traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factor management among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to that of matched non-RA controls within a large US managed care setting.
  
  
  
  Adult patients with RA and age- and sex-matched general population (general controls) or osteoarthritis (OA) controls were identified between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2011. We compared health care utilization, measurement, treatment, and treatment target achievement of traditional CV risk factors among subgroups of CV comorbidity during 1 year of followup between RA and controls.
  
  
  
  A total of 9,440 RA patients, 31,009 general controls, and 10,352 OA controls were included. The proportions with measurements (blood pressure [BP], low-density lipoprotein [LDL] cholesterol, or hemoglobin A1c ), treatment (antihypertensive, statin, or anti-diabetes mellitus medications), and treatment target achievement were slightly higher in patients with RA compared with general controls. Controlling for other factors, RA patients were more likely to have a measurement of BP (odds ratio [OR] 16.77 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 10.01-28.08]) or LDL cholesterol (OR 1.25 [95% CI 1.13-1.39]), and to receive antihypertensive (OR 1.84 [95% CI 1.47-2.30]) or anti-diabetic medications (OR 1.26 [95% CI 1.01-1.56]) compared to general controls. RA was not associated with receiving a statin (OR 1.01 [95% CI 0.92-1.12]); however, a target LDL level was more likely to be achieved in RA compared to general controls (OR 1.27 [95% CI 1.17-1.37]) as well as target levels of BP and hemoglobin A1c . These results were consistent with results for OA controls except for a lower probability of receiving a statin in RA compared to OA.
  
  
  
  Traditional CV risk factors in patients with RA were not less aggressively managed compared to non-RA controls.
authors.affiliation: Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California.
authors.forename: Jaejin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena.
authors.forename: T Craig
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Cheetham
authors.affiliation: Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena.
authors.forename: Kristi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.affiliation: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Princeton, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Evo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alemao
authors.affiliation: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Princeton, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Hugh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawabata
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Katherine P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Solomon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000150:complications; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL