Attention, chocolate lovers: You may not be able to help yourselves. Swiss and British scientists have linked the widespread love of chocolate to a chemical "signature" that may be programmed into our metabolic systems.
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"Biologic" rheumatoid drugs safe for heart
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treating rheumatoid arthritis with "biologic" immunosuppressive drugs, such as TNF-blockers, neither increases nor decreases the risk of heart attack or stroke compared with use of methotrexate, the most commonly prescribed drug for rheumatoid arthritis, new research indicates.
However, steroid use does increase the likelihood of heart attack and stroke.
Rheumatoid arthritis patients are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, presumably because of widespread inflammation, Dr. Daniel H. Solomon, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues note in their article in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.
For their study, the researchers assessed immunosuppressant use for 946 RA patients who experienced a heart attack or stroke and 9460 similar patients who did not. Methotrexate was selected as the comparison drug.
As noted, the biologic anti-rheumatoid agents appeared to have no effect on the risk of heart attack and stroke. Steroids, by contrast, raised the risk by 50 percent.
The researchers call for further studies to investigate the cardiovascular effects of rheumatoid arthritis drugs.
SOURCE: Arthritis and Rheumatism, December 2006.
Reuters Health