What is your approach to monitoring lipids in patients with rheumatic diseases such as RA and SLE and do you have a lower threshold to start lipid lowering agents compared to the general population?  

In patients with SLE/RA, there is a higher risk of cardiovascular disease compared to age-matched controls. This is multifactorial from underlying traditional risk factors such as obesity, HTN, DM, HLD, but may also be increased due to side effects of steroids, biologics, and other medications, and ...

The risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is reported to be more than 2-fold compared to age and sex matched individuals in the general population. This risk is attributed to the systemic inflammation and the treatments...