Cardiac valvular calcification has been linked with systemic atherosclerosis in the general population. The prevalence and relationship with arterial calcification in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is unknown. We investigated the prevalence of valvular calcification in patients with RA and SLE and its relationship with arterial atherosclerotic calcification.
We compared aortic valve calcification (AVC), mitral valve calcification (MVC), and systemic vascular bed calcification using multidetector computed tomography in 110 patients (mean age 46.5 ± 9.4 yrs, 97 women) with RA (n = 58) or SLE (n = 52) and 60 age and sex-matched healthy controls.
Patients with RA and SLE, combined, had significantly higher prevalence of AVC (21.8% vs 3.3% in controls; p < 0.01), MVC (19.1% vs 0% in controls; p < 0.01), and arterial calcification in different vascular beds (all p < 0.05). AVC was not associated with any specific clinical characteristics, but MVC was associated with older age, hypertension, C-reactive protein level, and duration of disease. The presence of MVC was independently associated with coronary calcification and calcification in any vascular bed upon adjustment with clinical measures.
Our study demonstrated that cardiac valvular calcification is more prevalent in patients with RA and SLE compared with healthy controls. The presence of MVC, but not AVC, independently predicted the occurrence of premature atherosclerosis with arterial calcification in patients with RA and SLE.