Analysis of risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, depending on gender

Abstract

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is recognized to be an adverse risk factor of cardiovascular diseases. Aim: To determine the structure and frequency of occurrence of traditional risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, depending on the gender of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Material and methods: The case histories of 70 patients (men n-23, women n-47) according to the criteria of the diagnosis of ACR / EULAR 2010 were analyzed. The SCORE scale was used to assess cardiovascular risk. In patients with rheumatoid arthritis duration of more than 10 years, seropositive for rheumatoid factor and antibodies to cyclic citrulline peptide, with systemic manifestations according to the recommendations of EULAR, an adapted SCORE/EULAR model is used; risk is recalculated taking into account the coefficient of 1.5. These studies were processed using statistical programs the Microsoft Office Excel 2010 and the IBM SPSS 21 program. Results: Women with rheumatoid arthritis who smoke less (4.3%) than men (60.9%) at p <0.01. At the same time, the frequency of arterial hypertension is higher in men than in women (65.2% and 40.4%). In men the age factor is in the first row (78.3% and 44.4%, p <0.01). Depending on the gender of the patients, the difference among other cardiovascular diseases risk factors was insignificant. The mean of the total cholesterol (M ± SD) did not differ significantly between men and women (5.58 ± 0.98, 5.64 ± 0.91, p> 0.05). In the study, body weight index analysis showed that the body mass index of women were higher than men (M±SD 28.1±6.3, 26.6±3.8). The difference in body mass index by gender was significant (p <0.05). Depending on gender specificity, the mean value of systolic blood pressure/diastolic blood pressure was higher in men than in women (129±16.7/82.2±8.5 and 136.7±13.1/86 ± 7) and statistically significant (p <0.05). Women with low and middle risk of cardiovascular diseases prevailed (21.3% and 57.4%) than men (8.7% and 30.4%). The majority of men had a high and very high risk (21.7% and 39.1%), while women were in a smaller number (6.4% and 14.9%). There was a significant correlation between the men and women with the cardiovascular diseases risk, i.e, the p=0,012 (p <0,05) measured by the chi-squared criterion. Conclusion: So, if the first step for prevention of cardiovascular diseases in the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis is not sufficient correction of traditional risk factors, it is possible to develop complications of cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, the impact of rheumatoid arthritis on the development of cardiovascular diseases is obvious.