Coronary calcium on routine chest CT flagged cardiovascular risk in myositis

The edition in brief

A Vienna cohort of 234 adults with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy had coronary artery calcification visible on routine non-gated chest HRCT in 43%. Calcification was associated with lower cardiovascular death-free survival, with a stepwise decline by severity, and the pattern held in a matched systemic sclerosis cohort. High disease activity was linked to moderate calcification. Reading and reporting calcium on CT scans already done for lung disease is a no-cost step. In a US national cohort of 187,106 matched adults, autoimmune rheumatic disease was associated with a higher risk of Long COVID (2.8% vs 1.5%; aHR 1.56), with rituximab and glucocorticoid exposure among the risk factors. In 335 Swedish patients with lupus followed up to seven years, SLE-DAS predicted damage accrual better than SLEDAI-2K. A Lancet Rheumatology review argues the 2025 ESC myocarditis and pericarditis pathways underperform in rheumatic disease, where involvement is often subclinical. The pearl covers hydroxychloroquine dosing and retinal screening.