CRP and rheumatoid arthritis: HF risk increases with RA duration: Mantel et al. [53] observed a rapidly increasing risk of non-ischemic HF in the first year after RA diagnosis, up to a 2-fold (HR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.37–3.20), associated with higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate, disease activity score, and CRP (markers of inflammation).