• Intern Emerg Med · Mar 2023

    Vascular health in subjects with rheumatoid arthritis: assessment of endothelial function indices and serum biomarkers of vascular damage.

    • Mario Daidone, Alessandro Del Cuore, Alessandra Casuccio, Tiziana Di Chiara, Giuliana Guggino, Domenico Di Raimondo, Maria Grazia Puleo, Angelo Ferrante, Rosario Scaglione, Antonio Pinto, and Antonino Tuttolomondo.
    • U.O. C di Medicina Interna con Stroke Care, Dipartimento Promozione della Salute, Materno-Infantile, di Medicina Interna e Specialistica di Eccellenza "G. D'Alessandro", (ProMise), Università degli Studi di Palermo, Piazza delle Cliniche N.2, 90127, Palermo, Italy.
    • Intern Emerg Med. 2023 Mar 1; 18 (2): 467475467-475.

    BackgroundThe cardiovascular risk (CVD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is 1.5-2 times higher than that in individuals of the same age and sex.AimsTo analyse the degree of endothelial dysfunction, the atherogenic immunoinflammatory serum background and the relationships among some vascular indices, cardiovascular comorbidities, and cognitive performance in subjects with RA.Patients And MethodsAll consecutive patients with a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis admitted to the Rheumatology Ward of "Policlinico Paolo Giaccone" Hospital of Palermo were enrolled from July 2019 to September 2020. We evaluated our patients' cognitive functions by administering the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Reactive Hyperaemia Index (RHI) was evaluated for assessment of endothelial function. Serum levels of angiopoietin 2, osteopontin and pentraxin 3 were assessed by blood collection.ResultsFifty-eight consecutive patients with RA and 40 control subjects were analysed. RA patients showed significantly lower mean RHI values, significantly higher mean Augmentation Index (AIX) values and significantly lower mean Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score values than the control group. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis also showed higher mean serum values of pentraxin 3 and angiopoietin 2 than healthy controls. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed a significant association between pentraxin 3 and angiopoietin 2 and the presence of RA.DiscussionAngiopoietin 2 and pentraxin 3 could be considered surrogate biomarkers of endothelial activation and vascular disease, as they could play an essential role in the regulation of endothelial integrity and inflammation.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Medicina Interna (SIMI).

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