Abstract

BackgroundRheumatic diseases (RD) are autoimmune inflammatory arthritis. However involvement to other organs can occur and leads to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. Mediterranean diet (MD) has attracted considerable interest because it seems to offer significant benefits to that end.ObjectivesTo evaluate the role of MD in the development of the cardiovascular risk factors in RD.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study including patients with RA (ACR-EULAR 2010 criteria) or with SA (ASAS 2009 criteria), in remission or in low activity disease and with no history of cardio vascular risk factors before the diagnosis of their RD. Sociodemographic and disease related data were collected: Disease Activity Score (DAS28-CRP), Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS-CRP) and medication. We asked the patients to complete the 14-items MD adherence questionnary. We evaluated the association of adhrence to MD with cardiovascular risk factors: obesity, type-2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia and hypertension. We estimated odds ratios for each cardiovascular risk factors and their 95% confidence intervals. In all analyses, the high adherence category of MD adherence score [10–14) was considered the reference category.ResultsWe included 61 patients (40 women and 21 men) with a mean age of 42.2 ± 1.1 years old [20-66]. Among them, 32.7% belong to urban environment and 26.2% were professionally active. The mean disease duration was 83.2 months [9-180]. The mean DAS28-CRP was 1.2 [0.8-1.9] and the mean ASDAS-CRP was 1.8 [1.1-2.01]. Methotrexate was used by 52.4%, either as monotherapy or combination and biological in 47.6 %. Thirty patients had high adherence to MD (H-MD) and thirty-one had medium or low adherence to MD (L-MD). We found that higher adherence to the MD is inversely associated with the prevalence of each of the four cardiovascular risk factors, results are shown in Table 1.Table 1.Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and odds ratio in high adhrence to Mediterranean diet in rheumatic diseases.Prevalence %Odds ratio95% confidence intervalsObesity57.40.017[0.03-0.93]Type-2 diabetes50.80.01[0-0.019]Hyperlipidemia50.80.126[0.04-0.3]Hypertension42.60.13[0.43-0.4]ConclusionOur results suggest that the healthy effects of the MD observed in epidemiologic studies are exerted partly through plausible mechanisms: low prevalence of obesity, of type2 diabetes, of hyperlipidemia and of hypertension. Interventional studies may eventually provide stronger evidence. In the meantime, an increasing of knowledge supports the Mediterranean diet as a useful tool in managing individuals with RD, who are at high risk ofcardiovascular diseases.Disclosure of InterestsNone declared

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