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Evidence suggests that chronic inflammation in the setting of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with greater risk for cardiovascular disease, including valvular carditis. In this cohort study, researchers used data from the Veterans Health Administration and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to determine the risk for aortic stenosis in 73,000 patients with RA and in 639,000 controls without RA matched by age and sex (men, 87%; mean age, ≈62). Aortic stenosis was defined as a composite of outpatient and inpatient diagnoses, aortic valve replacement, and aortic stenosis–associated death; the latter two outcomes also were examined individually.
The incidence rate of aortic stenosis was 4.0 per 1000 person-years in patients with RA …