Cardiovascular Risk Prediction in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases - Project description
Background
Diseases of the rheumatic type are accompanied by an increased risk of the occurrence of arteriosclerosis and an increased cardiovascular mortality rate. Chronic inflammation is an underlying factor in both diseases. The chronic inflammation in rheumatoid diseases may lead to the accelerated development of arteriosclerosis. The role of traditional cardiovascular risk factors in the group of patients with rheumatic diseases and their prognostic value are currently unclear.
Objective
The present project pursues two objectives in particular: First, the prevalence and characteristics of cardiovascular risk factors as well as the (cardiovascular) event rate are to be documented in the follow-up. For this purpose, in accordance with a graduated scheme, 1,000 consecutive patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, vasculitides, collagenoses, Bechterew‘s disease and psoriatic arthritis) will be examined using non-invasive methods and followed up during a 2-year monitoring period.
Then the prognostic value of established predictor sets (prognosis scores such as EURO-SCORE, PROCAM score, Framingham score) will be compared with a newly derived predictor set in a patient group. The ease of documentation of the predictor as well as the financial resource consumption will be taken into account in the selection of the predictors.
Implementation
Patients with rheumatic diseases will be prospectively consecutively recruited from two large centers for rheumatic diseases and given cardiovascular screenings. Recruitment was completed at the end of 2006.
Added value via networking
The structure of the project is designed for cross-regional expansion and potentially suited to function as a catalyst for the linkage of two competence networks (rheumatic diseases and heart failure). Thus the newly derived risk score could be externally validated with a large cohort. Furthermore, the project contributes a large number of biomaterials as a basic prerequisite for clarifying pathophysiological connections within the competence network.