engleski

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications in rheumatoid arthritis patients at Osijek Baranja County (Croatia)

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease affecting joints, but also other visceral organs. It s three times more common in women than men. It has been shown that persistent inflammation can cause endothelial dysfunction which leads to vascular disease. The objective of this study was to investigate the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications in patients in different stages of rheumatoid arthritis. Methods: A retrospective analysis of data obtained from the records of RA patients (N=647) from Clinical Hospital Centre Osijek, Croatia was performed. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine University of Osijek. SPSS software package (Statistics for Windows 17.0. Chicago: SPSS Inc.) was used for data analysis and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Given the type of data chi square test (χ2) and Fisher's exact test was used. Results: Patients' average age was 64.1 years. 523 (80.8%) RA patients were females. Most of patients had disseminated disease affecting small, medium and large joints (29.1%) Incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications was higher in men than women (5.6% and 11.3% compared to 2.6% and 7.1%, respectively). Of cardiovascular complications the most frequent in women was arrhythmia, while men presented with arrhythmia and heart attack. Discussion: Inflammation present in RA can be important trigger causing atherosclerosis. Literature shows that incidence of deaths due to cardiovascular disease is 50% higher than in general population. This has practical importance in treating RA patients, who should be considered a high risk group similar to diabetic patients. Conclusion: Our results showed a statistically significant difference in frequency of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications between male and female patients suffering from RA. Acknowledgement: This project was supported by IPA Hungary – Croatia Cross-border Co-operation Programme, HEALTH IMPULSE project (HUHR/1001/2.1.3/0006)

Rheumatoid arthritis; Cardiovascular complications; Cerebrovascular complications

RECOOP HST ASSOCIATION