DXA and cardiovascular disease in rheumatoid arthritis: A scoping review

DXA technology is widely available today in many regions of the world. There is a growing realization of the value of DXA not only for osteoporosis management but also for sports medicine, sarcopenia, and the assessment of cardiovascular disease and mortality. Such features may be of particular interest for populations with a greater risk of these outcomes such as those with diabetes mellitus or rheumatoid arthritis. Recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses show DXA can robustly predict fractures, cardiovascular disease, dementia and mortality. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting multiple organs including synovial joints, bone and other tissues. People suffering from RA have a greater propensity to osteoporotic fracture, cardiovascular disease, infection and premature death, which is well recognised. RA is the only unique disease included in some fracture risk algorithms such as FRAX, and so RA patients are often referred for a DXA scan to evaluate their risk of osteoporosis. We have previously shown vertebral fractures, aortic calcification and cardiovascular disease are prevalent in our RA population, with strong association. In this paper we performed a scoping review of published literature in Medline and Embase to better understand the current status of DXA and cardiovascular disease in RA populations. 822 papers were identified in an initial search of which 7 papers reflecting 2,038 RA patients from 7 different countries were included. Study design included 4 cross-sectional, 2 longitudinal and 1 case-control. All included associations with various cardiovascular measures, while only 1 included clinical events as an outcome. Our results suggest this is an area which remains relatively unexplored but has substantial important clinical potential.