Amin, Asso Sulaimaniya General Teaching Hospital - Department of Medicine, Iraq , Merza, Raof Sulaimaniya General Teaching Hospital - Department of Rheumatology, Iraq , Mohammad, Kosar Sulaimaniya General Teaching Hospital - Department of Medicine, Iraq , Amin, Osama Shukir Muhammed Sulaimaniya General Teaching Hospital - Department of Neurology, Iraq , Abdullah, Rozhgar Sulaimaniya General Teaching Hospital - Department of Rheumatology, Iraq

Rheumatoid Arthritis and the Ankle-Brachial Pressure Index: Any Association?

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Purpose: Several studies tried to assess the influence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on peripheral arteries and found an association with later development of intimal thickness and atherosclerosis. We tried to uncover the prevalence of subclinical peripheral vascular disease (PVD) in rheumatoid arthritis patients.Materials and Methods: This case control-study had involved sixty patients who were diagnosed with rheumatoid. Forty age, gender, and body mass index-matched healthy individuals were selected as the control group. All participants were non-smokers, non-hypertensive, and non-diabetics and had a normal lipid profile. The presence of peripheral arterial disease was evaluated by measuring the ankle-brachial pressure index (ABPI) at the level of each artery of the lower limbs. An index of ≤0.9 was considered abnormal and a possible reflection of an underlying PVD.Results: Twenty three (38%) out of the 60 RA patients demonstrated one or more abnormal arteries while only 3 (7.5%) out of the 40 control individuals had abnormal results (p-value 0.001). A statistically significant association was noted between abnormal ABPI and RA disease severity as indicated by C-reactive protein (P-value 0.003), ESR (P-value 0.002), and positive serum rheumatoid factor (P-value 0.01). However, age, gender, and disease duration showed no link with abnormal ABPI.Conclusion: A higher prevalence of abnormal ABPI, and hence a possible higher incidence of subclinical atherosclerosis, was found in patients with RA. Further analytic studies are required to assess the relationship of RA with PVD.

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Rheumatoid arthritis , ankle , brachial pressure index , peripheral vascular disease

Cukurova Medical Journal

90