TY - JOUR T1 - Fragility Fractures Are Associated with an Increased Risk for Cardiovascular Events in Women and Men with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Population-based Study JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol DO - 10.3899/jrheum.160651 SP - jrheum.160651 AU - Orla Ni Mhuircheartaigh AU - Cynthia S. Crowson AU - Sherine E. Gabriel AU - Veronique L. Roger AU - L. Joseph Melton III AU - Shreyasee Amin Y1 - 2017/01/15 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2017/01/05/jrheum.160651.abstract N2 - Objective Women and men with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have an increased risk for fragility fractures and cardiovascular disease (CVD), each of which has been reported to contribute to excess morbidity and mortality in these patients. Fragility fractures share similar risk factors for CVD but may occur at relatively younger ages in patients with RA. We aimed to determine whether a fragility fracture predicts the development of CVD in women and men with RA. Methods We studied a population-based cohort with incident RA from 1955 to 2007 and compared it with age- and sex-matched non-RA subjects. We identified fragility fractures and CVD events following the RA incidence/index date, along with relevant risk factors. We used Cox models to examine the association between fractures and the development of CVD, in which fractures and CVD risk factors were modeled as time-dependent covariates. Results There were 1171 subjects (822 women; 349 men) in each of the RA and non-RA cohorts. Over followup, there were 406 and 346 fragility fractures and 286 and 225 CVD events, respectively. The overall CVD risk was increased significantly for RA subjects following a fragility fracture (HR 1.81, 95% CI 1.38–2.37) but not for non-RA subjects (HR 1.18, 95% CI 0.85–1.63). Results were similar for women and men with RA. Conclusion Fragility fractures in both women and men with RA are associated with an increased risk for CVD events and should raise an alert to clinicians to target these individuals for further screening and preventive strategies for CVD. ER -