Urtė Jucevičiutė, Giedrė Vanagaitė, Tadas Vanagas 

Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Academy of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania

Abstract

An autoimmune disease is an illness that causes the immune system to produce antibodies against body tissues. There are organ specific and organ non-specific – systemic autoimmune diseases. Systemic autoimmune diseases are more likely to cause coronary heart disease and usually rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus are the main causes of acceleration of coronary heart disease and development of an illness. For instance, a large Danish cohort study presented that the risk of myocardial infarction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis is similar to that in patients with diabetes mellitus. On the other hand, the prevalence of autoimmune diseases is not so high, for example, rheumatoid arthritis is 0,5%-1,0%. However, the observed association between the development and exacerbation of autoimmune diseases and coronary heart disease forces the physician to take into account the existing autoimmune pathology, evaluate risk factors and take care of their prevention, and treatment. The article discusses the link between rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and coronary heart disease, the peculiarities of prevention and treatment.

Aim: To evaluate the impact of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of coronary heart disease

Methods: literature sources were selected from the PubMed database using keywords: coronary heart disease, autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus.

Conclusions: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus have an increased risk of developing coronary heart disease. It is important to note, that the traditional coronary heart disease risk assessment calculator SCORE underestimates patients with autoimmune diseases. Effective control of risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus and coronary heart disease is important.

Keywords: coronary heart disease, autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus.