Fig 3.

Targeting cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk reduction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Targeting reduction of CVD in RA requires a multifaceted, team approach. Key areas to target are tobacco use cessation, treating comorbid conditions (diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease), assessing cardiovascular risk, aggressively managing dyslipidemia, treating RA toward a goal of remission (or at least low disease activity), avoiding/limiting use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and corticosteroids, and potentially selecting disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) with more favorable CVD risk profiles. HCQ=hydroxychloroquine; MTX=methotrexate; TNFi=tumor necrosis factor inhibitor