Roger S. Blumenthal

TL;DR: Increasing rheumatoid arthritis disease severity was associated with a higher prevalence and greater extent of coronary artery calcification, potentially mediated through an atherogenic effect of chronic systemic inflammation.

TL;DR: Hypertension is more common in RA than in controls and other traditional cardiovascular risk factors are highly prevalent, underdiagnosed, and poorly controlled in patients with RA, as well as controls.

TL;DR: In multivariable analysis, greater baseline CAC was strongly associated with initiation of ASA therapy, dietary changes, and increased exercise, and determination of CAC may also improve utilization of ASA Therapy and behavioral modification.

TL;DR: There appears to be a stepwise increase in the presence of coronary artery calcium and the risk of incident ASCVD with increasing SBP levels, highlighting the importance of primordial prevention for SBP level increase and other traditional ASCVD risk factors, which generally seem to have similar trajectories of graded increase in risk within values traditionally considered to be normal.

TL;DR: Arterial age provides a convenient transformation of CAC from Agatston units to a scale more easily appreciated by patients and treating physicians, and helps provide patients with a more understandable version of their CAC scores.