Individuals with autoimmune disease have an increased risk for developing incident CVD, according to a study published in The Lancet. Nathalie Conrad, PhD, and colleagues conducted a populationbased study including a cohort of individuals who were newly diagnosed with any of 19 autoimmune diseases between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2017 and were free of CVD up to 12 months after diagnosis, along with a matched cohort (446,449 and 2,102,830 participants, respectively). The incidence of 12 cardiovascular outcomes was examined. During a median follow-up of 6.2 years, 15.3% and 11.0% of those with and without autoimmune diseases, respectively, developed incident CVD, with an incidence rate of 23.3 and 15.0 events per 1,000 patient-years (HR, 1.56). For every individual with CVD, the risk was increased with autoimmune disease; risk increased progressively with the number of autoimmune diseases present (HRs, 1.41, 2.63, and 3.79 for one, two, and three or more diseases, respectively) and with younger age (HRs, 2.33, 1.76, and 1.30 for age <45, 55-64, and ≥75, respectively).

Author