Heart disease can exist alongside other health conditions. Heart disease and other conditions may be caused by one another or be related in other ways. They may also be completely unrelated. People living with autoimmune conditions may be up to three times more likely to also experience heart disease than people without an underlying autoimmune issue. This knowledge is relatively new to our understanding of heart disease.

If you live with an autoimmune disease, it’s important to understand your risk of developing heart disease. That way, you can work with a rheumatologist or cardiologist to track your heart health and get early treatment for any heart problems that develop. Here’s what you need to know.

Autoimmune Diseases and Heart Disease

Autoimmune diseases occur when the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues as if they were invaders that need to be eliminated. For the most part, researchers don’t fully understand why this happens. Autoimmune conditions generally cause pain, swelling, skin discoloration, and inflammation in whatever part of the body is under attack.

When we talk about heart disease, we are referring to any one of a number of conditions that affect the heart’s health or how well it can work. These diseases can affect the heart’s muscles, valves, blood and vessels, as well as how it beats and other important functions.

A study in 2022 found that having certain autoimmune diseases raises the risk of heart disease. Here’s why experts think that happens.

Inflammation

People living with autoimmune disorders tend to have higher levels of inflammation. Unfortunately, this inflammation isn’t always limited to the area of the body being attacked by the immune system. It’s often systemic, which means that there is more inflammation throughout the body. It’s also chronic inflammation, which means that it doesn’t really go away.

Inflammatory processes in the body can affect the heart and the blood vessels in a number of ways. Inflammation can damage the lining of your blood vessels, which can lead to fat cells building up in the arteries. This is called a fatty plaque, and it can narrow the arteries, which can cause a condition called atherosclerosis. When atherosclerosis affects coronary arteries (the arteries that supply heart), the condition is called coronary artery disease. If the coronary arteries get too narrow, the heart may not receive enough oxygen during physical effort, such as exercise, which can cause chest pain.

Inflammation can cause atherosclerosis in other body arteries, making them stiff and narrow, which can raise your blood pressure to unhealthy levels. This is called hypertension, and it can lead to a number of problems. Some of these are heart related, like heart attacks, heart failure, and other heart diseases. Untreated hypertension may hurt arteries and cause more atherosclerosis.

Heart Damage

Sometimes, your heart itself may be the target of an autoimmune disease. This means your heart is being attacked by your immune system. These symptoms often get missed until they’re serious because they tend to develop slowly.

Autoimmune attacks on your heart can affect how your blood circulates, how the heart valves work, the rhythm of your heartbeats, the structure of your heart, and more. Often these symptoms become serious before you even know they’re there. Thus, it’s important to monitor your heart health if you live with an autoimmune disease.

Specific Autoimmune Diseases Connected to Heart Disease

A number of specific autoimmune diseases have a known connection to heart disease. If you’ve been diagnosed with one of these conditions, you may have a higher chance of developing heart problems. Other autoimmune diseases may also be linked but haven’t been studied as much. Here’s what we know so far.

Systemic sclerosis, Addison’s disease, systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus), and type 1 diabetes have relatively higher risks for heart disease than some other autoimmune diseases do. Other autoimmune diseases associated with heart disease include Kawasaki disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjögren’s disease. Psoriasis also seems to be connected to heart problems.

Different autoimmune diseases can affect your heart and heart disease risk in different ways. For instance, rheumatoid arthritis often changes the way the heart works, but many people with the condition don’t experience severe heart disease. On the other hand, Sjögren’s disease often targets the heart. People with both of these conditions are likely to experience some heart-related effects, but for different reasons and with some different effects.

This isn’t a comprehensive list. If you have been diagnosed with any autoimmune disease, talk to your rheumatology team about your risk of developing heart disease. They can tell you what to look for, which can include symptoms like fatigue, heart palpitations, swollen feet, and more. A wide variety of symptoms can be connected to different types of heart disease. Your doctor can tell you which ones might be most likely to affect you. They may also refer you to a cardiology team for testing or monitoring.

Reducing Heart Disease Risk in People With Autoimmune Conditions

When it comes to reducing your risk of heart disease, researchers and doctors generally have the same recommendations for people who have autoimmune diseases and those who don’t. They’re also similar to recommendations for people already living with heart disease. The recommendations usually involve lifestyle changes around diet and exercise.

Eat a Heart-Healthy Diet

A heart-healthy diet involves eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat protein, and less unhealthy fat, sodium, and salt. Eating a heart-healthy diet may mean planning meals ahead of time to make sure you meet your goals and paying attention to your portion sizes. If you want guidance on changing your diet or figuring out what to eat, ask your doctor to help you find a registered dietitian. They’ll help you figure out what will work for you so you can make long-term changes.

Be Physically Active

Exercise can help you keep your heart and your blood vessels healthy. It can also help you reduce inflammation. Some autoimmune diseases make exercise difficult, especially if they cause pain or limited mobility. Experts recommend swimming, using the elliptical machine, or practicing yoga if these are accessible for you. If you need help coming up with an exercise routine that works for your body, a physical therapist can help. Your doctor should be able to help you find someone who specializes in working with people living with autoimmune conditions.

Quit Smoking

If you currently smoke, it’s important to quit. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. Try to limit your exposure to secondhand smoke, as smoking is closely tied to heart disease.

Making these changes takes some serious effort, but healthcare providers are available to help you get started. The changes will be worth it when you feel better and your heart is healthier.

Ask Your Doctor About Your Medications

In addition to recommending ways you can change your lifestyle, your healthcare provider may want you to start or change some medications. If you have some indications that your heart may be under stress, like high cholesterol or high blood pressure, your doctor may prescribe medicines to treat those conditions so they don’t get worse.

In addition, some of the medicines used to treat certain autoimmune diseases may raise your risk of heart problems. Your doctor can help you decide when to take these medications and when you might want to try something else.

If you have an autoimmune condition, the best thing you can do is talk to your doctor. They’ll help you figure out your risk of heart disease and make sure you know how often you need monitoring and what symptoms to watch out for.

Talk With Others Who Understand

On MyHeartDiseaseTeam, the social network for people with heart disease and their loved ones, more than 62,000 members come together to ask questions, give advice, and share their stories with others who understand life with heart disease.

Have you been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in addition to heart disease? Do you think there’s a connection? Share your experience in the comments below, or start a conversation by posting on your Activities page.