The Hidden DNA Changes Linking Rheumatoid Arthritis to Heart Disease

Acquired mutations as the link between rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular disease

Rheumatoid arthritis doesn’t just affect the joints, it can also raise the risk of heart disease, blood disorders and early death. In this project, our team explored whether tiny, acquired changes in a person’s DNA might help explain that link. We found these mutations in one in five older patients with rheumatoid arthritis, far more than in the wider population and showed they were tied to higher disease activity, poorer response to treatment, cancer and cardiovascular events. Encouragingly, treatments targeting some of these changes already exist. Read the full plain language summary to discover what this could mean for more personalised care.

Sharing what we learn is a vital part of our National Research Program, ensuring new knowledge reaches people living with arthritis, clinicians and researchers. These outcomes have been shared widely: Dr Athena Chin from the research team presented the study’s preliminary data at the Australian Rheumatology Association Annual Meeting in Adelaide in May 2025, and further findings featured as a poster at the 2025 American Congress of Rheumatology in Chicago, where they were highlighted in the ‘Clinical Year in Preview’ session as an ‘abstract that will shape research in the near future’.