Autoimmune Diseases, Women Die Twice as Much as Men

Some autoimmune diseases have a gender imbalance, meaning that women are affected much more often than men. Multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and rheumatoid arthritis are more common in women. But this imbalance also affects the risk of death from cardiac causes associated with these diseases, says a study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes : on average, women die twice as often.

The Link Between Autoimmune Diseases and Cardiovascular Risk

The data comes from the analysis of the causes of death of over 280 thousand people with autoimmune diseases, recorded over the course of over twenty years. The diseases they focused on were systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis. Of these, the researchers report, approximately 127 thousand were linked to cardiovascular diseases. A fact that is not surprising in itself: only some time ago, in fact, in the pages of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology , a review recalled the close link between autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular risk. Partly because both the inflammatory processes linked to the diseases and the use of certain therapies can promote atherosclerotic processes that worsen the vascular health of patients.

The results

The new research, led by Issam Motairek of the Cleveland Clinic (Ohio, USA), has shown how mortality varies in these patients, especially for coronary heart disease and stroke. In particular, about two women out of every 100,000 with autoimmune disease die from cardiovascular problems, compared to about one man out of every 100,000 (for both, a decrease is observed over the years). Mortality from some cardiovascular events, such as cardiac arrest or arrhythmia, were also much higher in women and, if we look only at rheumatoid arthritis, women die three times more than men.

The importance of checking your heart

The message from the study is that more attention needs to be paid to cardiovascular health in those with autoimmune diseases, especially women: “It is critical to identify and address cardiovascular risk factors early, at diagnosis and periodically thereafter,” concluded Heba S. Wassif of the Cleveland Clinic, one of the authors of the paper. “As we better understand the role of inflammation in cardiovascular disease, we need to translate this knowledge into targeted prevention strategies to reduce cardiovascular disease-related deaths in women with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.”