Study of cardiovascular manifestations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Abstract
Introduction: Cardiovascular manifestations are considered one of the most common extra-articular manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis, and they are one of the main causes of death in these patients. Therefore, it was necessary to shed light on these manifestations for the purpose of early diagnosis and management.
Research objective: To study the effects of rheumatoid arthritis on the cardiovascular system and shed light on the pathophysiological mechanisms of these manifestations.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study that included 52 cases (43 females, 9 males) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were referred and admitted to the Department of Joint Diseases at Tishreen University Hospital in Lattakia during the time period 2021-2022. Laboratory evaluation of inflammatory markers (CRP and ESR),ECG with 1-minute recording strip to evaluate heart rate variability ,and transthoracic echocardiography were performed for all study patients.
Results: The average age of the study patients was (51.84 ± 12.03) and the average duration of the disease was 6.5 years. The ECG was normal in 82.7% of patients. The most noticeable ECG changes in the study patients were T/ST changes in 15.3% patients, most of whom were asymptomatic. We also observed in ECG presence of QTc prolongation and decrease in heart rate variability consistent with the severity of inflammation.
42.3% of patients had a normal echocardiography, and the most common echo abnormalities seen were diastolic dysfunction at 51.9%, followed by mitral insufficiency at 23.1%, pericardial effusion at 17.3%,and aortic insufficiency at 13.5%.
Conclusion: We found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis electrographic changes that included prolongation of the QT interval values, decrease in heart rate variability, and the prevalence of ischemic changes in the ST segment and the T wave. We also found by echocardiography the prevalence of diastolic dysfunction, mitral and aortic insufficiency, as well as pericardial effusion.
Most of the cardiac injuries in the study patients were subclinical, and were associated with: the severity of the inflammatory activity, the age of the patient, and the duration of the rheumatoid arthritis .
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The authors retain the copyright and grant the right to publish in the magazine for the first time with the transfer of the commercial right to Tishreen University Journal for Research and Scientific Studies - Health Sciences Series
Under a CC BY- NC-SA 04 license that allows others to share the work with of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors can use a copy of their articles in their scientific activity, and on their scientific websites, provided that the place of publication is indicted in Tishreen University Journal for Research and Scientific Studies - Health Sciences Series . The Readers have the right to send, print and subscribe to the initial version of the article, and the title of Tishreen University Journal for Research and Scientific Studies - Health Sciences Series Publisher
journal uses a CC BY-NC-SA license which mean
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
- ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.