Gender differences in cardiovascular risk of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Adawi, M; Gurovich, B; Firas, S; Watad, A; Bragazzi, N l; Amital, H; Sirchan, R; Blum, A

Background Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease, affecting women more than men, with a more aggressive course in women. Design A prospective study that recruited 58 patients (46 women aged 56 ± 12 years) with active long-standing RA disease (>12 months). Our goals were to measure their endothelial function, part of the cardiovascular risk assessment. Methods The Brachial Artery method measured endothelial function (the flow mediated percent change [FMD percentage] of the brachial artery diameter). A senior Rheumatologist clinically evaluated all subjects. Mann Whitney rank sum test estimated gender differences among the RA patients. Results Median FMD% change for men was −6.07%, while median FMD% change for women was 0.44% (Z = 2.38, P = 0.01). Baseline Brachial artery diameter was larger in men (Z = 2.52, P = 0.01); however, tender joints count and BMI were greater in women (Z =−2.24, P = 0.01; Z =−3.99, P = 0.001), respectively. Conclusions Women with RA have significantly better endothelial function than men with RA. It means that even though RA is 3-fold more prevalent in women, women are more protected from atherosclerotic coronary artery disease and cardiac events.

RHEUMATOID arthritis; BRACHIAL artery; CORONARY disease; GENDER

QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 2019, Vol 112, Issue 9, p657

1460-2725

Academic Journal

10.1093/qjmed/hcz124