Predictors of atherosclerosis in rheumatoid arthritis

Atherosclerosis is emerging as an important complication of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with coronary artery disease being projected as the major cause of mortality in these patients.This study was undertaken to evaluate the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis and to identify the risk factors of atherosclerosis in patients with RA.

All consecutive in- and out-patients of rheumatoid arthritis (n = 100) irrespective of the disease duration were included in the study. A group of 100 age and sex matched controls were also studied. Increased carotid intima media thickness (beyond the 75th percentile for age and sex), presence of plaques, ankle brachial pressure index and QT dispersion were deemed as non-invasive measures of atherosclerotic burden.

Fifty patients (50.0 %) with RA had evidence of subclinical atherosclerosis as compared to the control group (n = 11, 11 %); plaques were observed in 26 patients. Eighteen (36 %) of these developed this evidence within 1 - 5 years of disease onset. Low HDL levels among the conventional risk factors and advanced patient age, longer disease duration, greater number of involved joint areas, steroid use and indices of inflammation in particular in RA, were associated with subclinical atherosclerosis. Sustained inflammation was observed throughout the sub-group with atherosclerosis irrespective of the disease duration.

RA is a pro-atherogenic state with the process of atherosclerosis initiated in the early stage of the disease. Besides the traditional risk factors, sustained inflammation contributes to atherogenesis.