Genetic liability to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with an increased risk for coronary artery disease (CAD) and intracerebral hemorrhage, according to a study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Shuai Yuan, PhD candidate, and colleagues used a Mendelian randomization approach to examine the causality of the associations of RA with CAD and stroke. Seventy independent single nucleotide polymorphisms strongly associated with RA were selected as instrumental variables from a genome-wide association meta-analysis involving 14,361 RA cases and 43,923 controls. From metaanalyses of genetic studies, international genetic consortia, the U.K. Biobank, and the FinnGen consortium, summary-level data for CAD, all stroke, any ischemic stroke and its subtypes, intra-cerebral hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage were obtained. Genetic liability to RA was associated with an elevated risk for CAD and intracerebral hemorrhage, with combined ORs of 1.02 and 1.05, respectively, for a 1-unit increase in log odds of RA. Increased levels of tumor necrosis factor and C-reactive protein (CRP) were seen in association with genetic liability to RA. After adjustment for genetically predicted CRP levels, the association for CAD was attenuated.
