OBJECTIVES: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a higher risk of ischemic cardiac events compared with the general population. This would be explained not only by the greater presence of traditional risk factors, but also by the systemic inflammatory nature of arthritis. To compare the prevalence of ischemic heart disease (IHD) in a target RA population with the international prevalence data. METHODS: Cross-sectional study including 183 adult patients with code M05-M06 (ICD-10) attended in primary or secondary care units from Blumenau city, southern Brazil, in 2014. Data collection was performed through structured personal interview and, if necessary, later by phone. The presence of IHD was defined as acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina, percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass graft that have occurred after the diagnosis of RA. RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: The result shows that the prevalence of coronary ischemia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis from Blumenau is similar to the prevalence observed in other countries.