The relationship of metabolic syndrome with disease activity and the functional status in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study is to investigate the frequency of metabolic syndrome (MS) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to determine the relationship between the clinical and laboratory parameters of RA and the components of the metabolic syndrome (MS).

METHODS

Fifty-four patients with RA and 52 healthy individuals were enrolled in this study. The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis was based on the American College of Rheumatology criteria and the diagnosis of the metabolic syndrome was made according to the criteria set out in the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (AHA/NHLBI). The functional status and disease activity were also recorded in patients with RA.

RESULTS

MS was diagnosed in 42.6% of the patients with RA and in 9.6% of the healthy controls. The systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were observed to be significantly higher in the patients with RA in comparison to the controls. Also, the frequency of MS was higher in the inferior functional group in relation to the higher functional group. A positive correlation was observed between the DAS28 scores and hypertension in patients with RA.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, MS was more frequently detected in the patients with RA compared to the control group. Also, an inferior functional status in RA was also found to be associated with the presence of MS. Thus, the presence of MS in patients with RA may be associated with a higher cardiovascular risk.