But how long do you want to have Rheumatoid Arthritis because of its function in preventing Alzheimers? Your doctor should know the answer to that simple question.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Was Negatively Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease: A Population-Based Case-Control Study

Biotech Device Could Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis Without the Side Effects 

Biotech Device Could Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis Without the Side Effects

Biotech Device Could Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis Without the Side Effects

Rheumatoid arthritis significantly increased recurrence risk after ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack

Something else for your doctor to work on.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00415-018-8885-9

• Yih-Ru Chen
• Fang-I Hsieh
• Li-Ming Lien
• Chaur-Jong Hu
• Jiann-Shing Jeng
• Giia-Sheun Peng
• Sung-Chun Tang
• Nai-Fang Chi
• Yueh-Feng Sung
• Hung-Yi ChiouEmail author

• Yih-Ru Chen
  • 1
• Fang-I Hsieh
  • 1
• Li-Ming Lien
  • 2
  • 3
• Chaur-Jong Hu
  • 3
  • 4
• Jiann-Shing Jeng
  • 5
• Giia-Sheun Peng
  • 6
• Sung-Chun Tang
  • 5
• Nai-Fang Chi
  • 4
• Yueh-Feng Sung
  • 6
• Hung-Yi Chiou
  • 1
  Email author

1. 1.School of Public Health, College of Public HealthTaipei Medical UniversityTaipei CityTaiwan
2. 2.Department of NeurologyShin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial HospitalTaipeiTaiwan
3. 3.School of Medicine, College of MedicineTaipei Medical UniversityTaipeiTaiwan
4. 4.Department of NeurologyShuang Ho HospitalTaipeiTaiwan
5. 5.Stroke Center and Department of NeurologyNational Taiwan University HospitalTaipeiTaiwan
6. 6.Department of Neurology, Tri-Service General HospitalNational Defense Medical CenterTaipeiTaiwan

Original Communication

First Online: 02 June 2018

• 3 Downloads

Abstract

The effect of RA on recurrent stroke is unknown. Therefore, we examined effects of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on risk of stroke recurrence and investigated the interaction between RA and traditional cardiovascular risk factors on recurrence risk after ischemic stroke (IS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA). Of 3190 patients with IS or TIA recruited in this cohort study, 638 were comorbid with RA and 2552 without RA. Stroke recurrence, RA, lifestyle, lipid variables and other comorbidities were identified through linkage between a nationwide stroke database in Taiwan and the National Health Insurance claims database. Cox proportional hazard models with competing risk adjustment were used to evaluate the relationship between RA and recurrent stroke. Patients with RA showed a significantly increased risk of recurrent stroke, particular in recurrent IS/TIA. The increased risk of recurrent IS/TIA in RA patients may through the changes of triglycerides (TG)/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio. A positive additive interaction was observed between RA and current smoking on the risk of recurrent IS/TIA. Significantly increased risks for recurrent IS/TIA were observed among RA patients who smoked > 40 years or those who smoked > 20 cigarettes/day. This study provides the first evidence that RA significantly increased recurrence IS/TIA risk. The changes of TG/HDL-C ratio may play some roles in the recurrence IS/TIA risk in RA patients. In addition, our results suggest that smoking increases the risk of recurrent IS/TIA in RA patients and reinforces the need for aggressive smoking cessation efforts in RA patients.

Keywords

Rheumatoid arthritis Stroke recurrence Lipid Smoking 

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article ( https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-018-8885-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Statins and Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis - A Nested Case-Control Study

But high-intensity statins should not be used anymore.

FDA announces new safety recommendations for high-dose simvastatin 

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/art.39774/abstract;jsessionid=F552C59330C812204052C6CFA1304DDC.f03t02

1. Koray Tascilar MD^1,2,
2. Sophie Dell'Aniello MSc¹,
3. Marie Hudson MD, MPH, FRCPC^1,3,4 and
4. Samy Suissa PhD^1,5,*

DOI: 10.1002/art.39774

© 2016, American College of Rheumatology

Issue

Arthritis & Rheumatology

Accepted Article (Accepted, unedited articles published online and citable. The final edited and typeset version of record will appear in future.)

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Keywords:

• Rheumatoid arthritis;
• statins;
• prevention

Abstract

Objective: Statins have anti-inflammatory/immunomodulatory effects that may be useful to prevent rheumatoid arthritis (RA) but previous observational studies about the risk of RA with statin use provided conflicting results. The aim of this study was to determine whether high-intensity statin treatment is associated with a lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods: Using data from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, we performed a nested case-control analysis in a population-based cohort of new statin users between 1997 and 2009, followed until a first diagnosis of RA, death, end of registration or end of 2009. For each case of RA, 10 age, sex and calendar year-matched controls were randomly selected from risk sets. We estimated the hazard ratio (HR) of incident RA in the highest quintile of duration-weighted average statin intensity compared with the lowest, using conditional logistic regression. Models were adjusted for smoking status, total cholesterol levels, obesity, history of cardiovascular disease, coexistent autoimmune diseases, hypothyroidism and persistence with treatment.

Results: The cohort included 528,654 new users of statins, with 1,357 new RA cases during a mean 3.3 years of follow-up, for an incidence rate of 7.9 per 10,000 person-years. Cases were more likely to be smokers, have other autoimmune diseases and lower total cholesterol levels at baseline. The incidence of RA was lower in the highest statin intensity quintile (adjusted HR 0.77; 95% CI: 0.63-0.95) in comparison to the lowest quintile.

Conclusions: In this large population-based study, high-intensity statin treatment was associated with a reduced risk of RA in comparison with low-intensity statins. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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Anti-TNFs(etanercept) in RA: No Link With Stroke

If Dr. Tobinick was really interested in how etanercept worked he would be all over this research and publishing his own articles on etanercept. But I bet he will do nothing on this. You can draw your own conclusion from his lack of clinical trials on his use of etanercept.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumatology/Arthritis/55798?
Treatment with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors was not associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a British study found.
Compared with RA patients receiving conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), there was no significant association between the risk of a first ischemic stroke and ever-exposure to anti-TNF therapy (HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.54-1.81), according to Kimme Hyrich, MD, PhD, of the University of Manchester, and colleagues.
And although the numbers were small, there was a trend toward a reduced mortality among patients receiving a TNF inhibitor at the time of their ischemic stroke compared with those who had never received a biologic, the researchers reported online in Arthritis & Rheumatology.
TNF alpha is a key driver of inflammation, which is believed to be involved in the atherosclerotic process leading to ischemic stroke. Previous studies showed that inhibition of TNF alpha does not influence the occurrence of ischemic stroke compared to DMARD therapy, but only in the short term.

More at link.