[Prevention of cardiovascular diseases in rheumatoid arthritis]

One of the key causes of lethality in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are cardiovascular catastrophes (myocardial infarction, stroke, sudden cardiac death) resultant from early development and rapid progression of atherosclerotic vascular lesion. The article presents current approaches to prevention of cardiovascular diseases in RA including assessment of overall cardiovascular risk for design of optimal strategy of correction of modification factors increasing probability of cardiovascular complications, strong control over inflammation and adequate use of drugs which may be harmful (glucocorticosteroids, nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs). Much attention is paid to perspectives of ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, statins, TNFalpha inhibitors in prevention of cardiovascular complication in RA