Treating inflammatory diseases such as respiratory infections and early-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Professor Maite Kelm from the University of Dusseldorf, Germany, recommends that giving elderly patients the influenza vaccine will help reduce the risk of CVD. Likewise, treating RA with specific anti-inflammatory treatment such as TNF-a inhibitors has been shown to alleviate vascular stiffness associated with the disease.

However, despite observational data reporting a link between inflammatory bowel disorders and CVD, Professor Kelm reported that to date there is no evidence suggesting a causative relationship between the two disease states.