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CVD risk factors more likely to predict vascular function in RA patients
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Cardiovascular disease risk factors were better predictors of vascular function and morphology compared with systemic disease-related inflammation among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to recent study results.
Researchers in the United Kingdom used C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) to examine 201 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA; median age, 61 years; 77% women) at baseline in 2006 for classic cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and inflammation. Microvascular and macrovascular endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent function, along with carotid atherosclerosis, were assessed at follow-up in 2012. Cumulative inflammatory burden was determined by comparing CRP and ESR at baseline and follow-up.
Microvascular endothelium-dependent function and endothelium-independent function, macrovascular endothelium-independent function and carotid atherosclerosis were predicted by CVD risk factors but not by RA disease-related inflammation. There was “a weak but statistically significant correlation” between the area under the curve for CRP and carotid intima-media thickness at follow-up (P=.034).
A subgroup of patients who did not have CVD and were not being treated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cyclooxygenase II inhibitors or biologics displayed similar findings.
“The present study revealed that classical CVD risk factors may be better long-term predictors of vascular function and morphology than systemic disease-related inflammation in patients with RA,” the researchers concluded. “Further studies are needed to confirm if assessments of vascular function and morphology are predictive of long-term CV outcomes in RA.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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