In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the role of autoimmunity, especially anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (anti-CCP) level, and the time-course of left ventricular (LV) function is unknown. The objective was to assess LV function and the amount of coronary calcium in relation to anti-CCP levels in a cohort of treatment-naive RA patients, and to assess changes in these parameters during a 2 year follow-up period.
Sixty-six steroid- and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug-naive RA patients were treated with methotrexate according to the Danish national guidelines. We assessed LV function by conventional echocardiography and speckle-tracking echocardiography. We estimated the amount and progression of coronary calcium by coronary computed tomography. Patients were examined at the time of diagnosis and after 2 years.
Patients with elevated anti-CCP at baseline and after 2 years, compared to those with non-persistently elevated anti-CCP, had significantly less improvement in S´ (1 ± 1.4 cm/s vs 0.2 ± 0.9 cm/s; p = 0.04) and a worsening in global longitudinal systolic strain (GLS) (0.6 ± 1.8% vs -1 ± 2.8%; p = 0.04). There was a significant correlation between ΔGLS over 2 years and anti-CCP at 2 year follow-up (r = 0.36; p = 0.006). We observed a small progression of coronary calcium score during the 2 year follow-up period. No differences in progression were found between patients with high anti-CCP titres at baseline and 2 year follow-up (n = 12) and patients with normal/low anti-CCP titres (n = 32) (23.8 ± 40.3 vs 22.6 ± 68.9; p = 0.96).
Deformation analysis by speckle-tracking echocardiography is a valuable tool to detect early development of myocardial dysfunction despite normal ejection fraction in RA.