Patients with rheumatoid arthritis could be almost 50% more likely to develop aortic stenosis than those without the inflammatory condition, according to US doctors.

Results from their cohort study, including 73,000 mostly male patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), also suggest a higher risk of aortic stenosis–related death and aortic valve interventions.

Although the link between cardiovascular disease and RA was well established, the researchers said valvular heart disease, specifically aortic stenosis, was “rarely described as an extra-articular manifestation of RA”.

Using a veterans’ health database, they matched patients with RA (mean age 63) — most of whom had previously received disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs — with nearly 640,000 controls.