To study the role of conventional and new factors of cardiovascular risk in development of atherosclerosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PA).
Sixty patients with psoriatic arthritis, 414 RA patients and 79 healthy controls entered the trial. All of them had no manifestations of cardiovascular diseases. Screening was made of the leading risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and cardiovascular complications, thickness of the complex intima-media (TIM) of the carotid arteries, vascular wall stiffness were measured, vasoregulatory function of the endothelium, markers of endothelial damage were examined.
Patients with psoriatic and rheumatoid arthritis were found to have increased TIM of the carotid arteries, high incidence of atherosclerotic plaques, increased stiffness, damage of the vascular wall, affected endothelial vasoregulation. These alterations were associated with high arthritis activity, systemic manifestations, seropositivity by rheumatoid factor (in RA), presence of entesitis, uveitis and dactilitis (in psoriatic arthritis), dislipidemia, arterial hypertension (AH).
To determine cardiovascular risk in patients with arthritis, it is necessary to consider not only standard risk factors (dislipidemia and AH), but also severity of systemic inflammation, arterial stiffness, endothelial damage and ability of the vascular wall to relax reflecting endothelial dysfunction.