Carotid artery intima-media thickness in patients with autoimmune connective tissue diseases: a case-control study

Patients with autoimmune rheumatic disorders have an increased incidence of cardiovascular (CV) events and mortality. Despite this being related to a high prevalence of the traditional CV risk factors, systemic inflammation has been postulated to be an independent CV risk factor, particularly in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, data are still controversial. We designed a case-control study, in which patients with autoimmune rheumatic disorders were matched with age-, sex-matched controls. Prevalence of early atherosclerosis was assessed by carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) measurement. IMT values were considered normal (IMT ≤ 0.9 mm) or abnormal (IMT > 0.9). Multivariate analysis was performed to identify predictors of pathological IMT. Overall, 152 patients and 140 matched controls were enrolled. Prevalence of >0.9 mm IMT values did not significantly differ between patients with autoimmune rheumatic disorders and controls (61 vs. 69%, p = 0.1). In detail, a similar IMT distribution between the 69 RA patients and controls was observed. Cases with a CV risk factor showed a higher prevalence of pathological IMT as compared to those without any risk factor, both in patients (77.1 vs. 38.6%; p < 0.0001) and controls (84.6 vs. 25%; p < 0.0001). At multivariate analysis, age and presence of CV risk factors were found to be independent predictors of >0.9 mm IMT, while RA as well as any other considered rheumatic disease were not. Our data found a similar prevalence of preclinical arterial wall atherosclerotic damage in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases and matched controls. Presence of traditional CV risk factors and patient age remain the main factors involved in preclinical atherosclerosis in patients with autoimmune rheumatic disorders, including RA.