Abstract
The aim of this thesis was to study cardiovascular risk in arthritis: Firstly, how do different rheumatic diseases compare in the patients’ traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factor profiles, and does this justify the general focus on rheumatoid arthritis regarding cardiovascular complications in rheumatic practice? Secondly, can we identify rheumatic disease specific factors, such as biomarkers, disease characteristics or treatment factors, that are associated with increased or decreased cardiovascular risk? Thirdly, does cardiovascular damage, manifesting itself through the occurrence of cardiovascular events, also occur if rheumatic disease is tightly controlled and average rheumatic inflammatory activity is low? And finally, what is the contribution of non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use to excess cardiovascular events in rheumatic patients? For this purpose we initiated the Arthritis Center Twente CardioVascular Disease (ACTCVD) cohort and performed an ex vivo pharmacodynamic experiment, the results of which are presented in this thesis.
| Original language | English |
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| Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
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| Award date | 21 Mar 2014 |
| Place of Publication | Enschede |
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| Print ISBNs | 978-94-6108-617-4 |
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| Publication status | Published - 21 Mar 2014 |