Examination of the relationship between cigarette smoking and rheumatoid arthritis: An eight-year prospective, clinical, observational cohort study

Objectives. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at an increased risk of mortality and morbidity due to cardiovascular disease (CVD). RA patients are 50–60% more likely than the overall population to develop CVD. In this investigation, we examined how smoking affected RA patients’ CVD risk. Methods. An eight-year follow-up prospective, clinical cohort research was conducted, at the University Hospital Osijek through special outpatient visits to which participants were invited. The study included 201 participants, 124 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as investigation group and 77 with osteoarthritis (OA) as control group. The investigation was f inished for 137 participants, 82 with RA and 55 with OA. The average participants age at the beginning of the investigation for RA group was 59.78 years, while that of the OA group was 64.23 years. During the course of the investigation, 58 participants (41 with RA and 17 with OA) passed away. We compared the prevalence of smoking and how it relates to RA patients’ risk for cardiovascular disease. Results. In the RA group, smoking was more common than in the OA group (p=0.0001). During the follow-up period, trends in the prevalence of smoking in both groups did not significantly alter. Smoking was associated with an increased risk of CVD in the RA group for both current and former smokers (p=0.028 and p=0.016, respectively). Conclusion. Our findings imply that smokers are more likely to develop RA and CVD, the reason underlying the trend of continued cigarette smoking in patients with RA remains unclear. Further studies are needed to clarify the trend of continued smoking in patients with RA.