Elective Surgery Safe For RA Patients
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis face no increased risk for adverse cardiovascular outcomes or mortality during elective surgery, despite their high rates of cardiac disease, a retrospective study found.
Compared with patients who had diabetes, those with rheumatoid arthritis had a significantly lower mortality rate during an intermediate-risk surgical procedure (0.30 percent versus 0.65 percent, P<0.001), according to Ali Yazdanyar, DO, PhD, of Reading Hospital and Medical Center in West Reading, Penn., and colleagues.
The arthritis patients also had fewer perioperative cardiovascular events during intermediate-risk procedures (0.34 percent versus 1.07 percent, P<0.001), the researchers reported in the August issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.