Cardiovascular education for people with rheumatoid arthritis: what can existing patient education programmes teach us?

Patient education is an integral component of the management of chronic diseases. Education programmes designed for people with RA have historically aimed to improve their arthritis symptoms and outcomes. Novel educational material is required to address significant comorbidities, particularly cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated with RA. We appraise the components of education programmes incorporated in disease management in people with RA and programmes used for CVD prevention in the general population, including their design and delivery, use of behaviour theory, evaluation and long-term efficacy. We then integrate the findings in order to inform the development of educational material specifically addressing CVD in RA. This approach may be useful for other major comorbidities of RA as well as other musculoskeletal conditions.