Low cholesterol levels are linked to rheumatoid arthritis

This study was published in Arthritis and Rheumatism 2001 Dec;44(12):2761-7

Study title and authors:

Elevated levels of small, low-density lipoprotein with high affinity for arterial matrix components in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: possible contribution of phospholipase A2 to this atherogenic profile.

Hurt-Camejo E, Paredes S, Masana L, Camejo G, Sartipy P, Rosengren B, Pedreno J, Vallve JC, Benito P, Wiklund O.

Göteborg University, Sweden. Eva.Hurt-Camejo@astrazeneca.com

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11762936

Hurt-Camejo notes that increased death rates and premature death due to cardiovascular disease are more common in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with the general population.

The study investigated the association of cholesterol levels with rheumatoid arthritis. The study included 31 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 28 controls subjects. Average age of the study participants was 53 years.

The study found that rheumatoid arthritis patients (with their higher death rates) had 6.5% lower cholesterol levels than the control subjects.