Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in rheumatoid arthritis patients: Association with disease.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease, which is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a set of factors that increase the risk of CVD, and recent studies suggested an increased prevalence of MetS in RA more than in general population. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of MetS in patients with RA and to evaluate its association with the disease activity and inflammation parameters. Then, to evaluate other cardiovascular risk factor and HeartSCORE Eular 2015 and its relation with the MetS. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study of 103 RA patients assessing the prevalence of the MetS in RA patients. MetS was defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program/Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines. RA disease activity was assessed with CDAI, SDAI and DAS28 scores. Independent risk factors for MetS in RA patients were identified by logistic regression. Results: The mean age was 53 ± 10 years. The sex ratio (Male/female) was 0.3. About half of patients (45%) had moderate disease activity with a mean DAS28 CRP score of 3.9±1.38. Prevalence of MetS was 38.8% in RA patients. MetS was associated with higher age (P=0.03), late onset disease age (P=0.01), family history of CVD (P=0.016), current use of corticoid (P=0.01) and menopause status (P=0.006). However disease activity, inflammation or treatment were not associated with MetS. Conclusions: MetS in RA patients was not associated with inflammation and disease activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]