New onset work disability in rheumatoid arthritis is an underrecognized cardiovascular risk factor: A retrospective...

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are more likely to develop work disability than the general population. We investigated whether individuals younger than 65 years of age who had both RA and new-onset work disability were at higher risk of CVD compared to similarly aged individuals with RA who did not develop disability. We identified the factors that best explained the excess risk.

This was a retrospective cohort study using data from the CorEvitas RA registry. Patients younger than 65 with RA were included. Exposure was new-onset work disability, and comparator was consistently working individuals. Cohorts were age- and sex-matched. Demographics, medications, and disease specific factors were collected for all patients. Incidence rates (IR) for cardiovascular events were calculated using Poisson regression and explanatory multivariable models were built using Cox proportional hazard ratios (HR) to determine the factors that explained the excess CVD risk.

Age and sex-adjusted IR was 5.40 per 1,000 person-years in the new-onset work disability group compared to 2.17 per 1,000 person-years in the working group. Work disability associated with CVD with HR = 2.32 (95 % CI 1.52, 3.53) in the age- and sex-adjusted model. Multivariate models accounting for functional status, education, medications, and traditional CVD risk factors could not fully explain the excess risk for CVD in newly work disabled patients with RA: HR = 1.78 (1.09, 2.91).

Patients younger than 65 with RA and new-onset work disability are at significantly increased risk for incident CVD compared to working peers. The excess CVD risk remained unexplained after accounting for multiple variables, possibly due to variables we cannot fully account for, such as social determinants of health and allostatic load.