Prevention is still the key to success.

Abstract

In this issue of the journal, we publish a survey of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 14 503 patients from 19 countries during 2014–2019. Dr Semb and co-workers report considerable geographical differences in estimated CVD risk and preventive treatment. Low goal attainment for lipid lowering treatment was observed, and only half of the patients obtained blood pressure goal. The authors conclude that despite a high focus on the increased CVD risk in RA patients over the last decade,1 there is still substantial potential for improvement in CVD preventive measures. In recent years, numerous cardiovascular (CV) outcomes trials have demonstrated not only CV safety but reductions in CV outcomes with two new classes of glucose lowering drugs, namely glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) and sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i) in patients with type II DM.2–6 In a Danish study, Dr Nørgaard and co-workers examined CV outcomes associated with the initiation of GLP-1RA vs. SGLT-2i treatment in a real-world setting among patients with type 2 diabetes. They used a Danish nationwide registry-based cohort study included patients with type 2 diabetes with a first-ever prescription of either GLP-1RA or SGLT-2i from 2013 through 2015, with follow-up until the end of 2018. The authors concluded that in this nationwide study of patients with type 2 diabetes, initiating GLP-1RA vs. SGLT-2i was not found to be associated with significant differences in CV risk.