Giles JT, Wasko MCM, Chung CP, et al. - Researchers examined the atherosclerosis burden among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with the lowest circulating LDL concentrations. Comparison of RA patients pooled from 4 cohort studies of cardiovascular disease (CVD; n = 546) with non-RA controls from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (n = 5,279) was done. Among patients with low LDL concentrations (< 70 mg/dl), RA patients displayed > 4-fold higher mean adjusted coronary artery calcium scores than controls (18.6 vs 4.6 Agatston units, respectively). This difference was significantly larger than that noted in any other LDL concentration stratum except LDL concentration ≥ 160 mg/dl. Findings emphasize heightened screening and prevention of atherosclerotic CVD among RA patients with low LDL concentration.