period.right up arrow What's more, people with RA experience more severe acute coronary syndrome (ACS) — heart attack, unstable angina, and other symptoms associated with sudden reduced blood flow to the heart — than the general population. A cohort study published in January 2018 in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that people with RA have 1.3 times the risk of heart failure compared with people without the disease.right up arrow The increased risk for ACS begins early in RA, too — a study published in July 2017 in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases found that people newly diagnosed with RA have an approximately 40 percent increased risk of ACS compared with the general population.right up arrow RELATED: Rheumatoid Arthritis and You: What RA Can Do to All Parts of the BodyAnd those RA patients who do survive ACS have a 30 percent increased risk of ACS recurrence and increased risk of death compared with the general population, according to a study published in December 2017 in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.right up arrow But treatment with RA medications called disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) may improve the early stages of heart disease, according to an October 2020 study in the same journal.right up arrow For these reasons, it is important for people with RA to assess their cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking, and reduce them. Other Health Conditions Related to Rheumatoid Arthritis People with RA have an increased risk of infections that may be related to the immune system dysfunction associated with RA, per the Arthritis Foundation,right up arrow or to certain drugs that are used to treat the condition, according to an article published in July 2017 in the journal Current Opinion in Rheumatology.right up arrow These drugs include corticosteroids, which reduce immune system activity and are the strongest contributors to serious infections in RA patients, according to a June 2019 study published in journal RMD Open. Researchers found that people with RA had a 70 percent increased risk of serious infections compared with those with non-inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases — but that increased risk drops to 30 percent after controlling for corticosteroid use.right up arrow Infections account for about one-quarter of all RA-related deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center.right up arrow On the flip side, research first published in February 2015 in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases suggested that recent gastrointestinal and urinary tract infections may reduce a person's risk of developing RA by altering the microbiome (the microbial community of the body).right up arrow Malignancies associated with the lymphatic system, such as leukemia and multiple myeloma, are also common in people with RA. Additionally, RA affects the lungs and can cause RA-related lung disease. It's estimated that 1 in 10 people with RA will develop interstitial lung disease, according to the Arthritis Research has also found that people with asthma have 1.74 times the odds of people without asthma to have RA, according to a study published in the January–February 2018 issue of Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.right up arrow Hundreds of people answered that very question — and posted to Tippi for you to read. Get their tips! Rheumatoid Arthritis Complications Complications are health issues that are