Correlation between Rheumatoid Factor and Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 Levels in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients without Metabolic Syndrome

Introduction. Cardiovascular complications caused by endothelial dysfunction become one of the highest causes of mortality in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Rheumatoid Factor (RF) is an autoantibody that is commonly found in RA and is thought increasing the inflammatory response and endothelial dysfunction. Metabolic syndrome may also increase endothelial dysfunction. There have been no study assessing correlation between RF and endothelial dysfunction in RA patients without metabolic syndrome. Aim of this study was to determine the correlation between RF levels with VCAM-1 levels in RA patients without metabolic syndrome. Methods. Cross sectional design study of adult RA patients treated in Rheumatology Polyclinic of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital without metabolic syndrome. Data collection was conducted from February to March 2018 from the previous research data taken from February 2016 to September 2017. The levels of RF and VCAM-1 were assessed through blood serum testing using the ELISA method. Correlation between the two variables was made using Spearman correlation analysis with SPSS 20.0 Results. A total of 46 subjects were included in the study. Most (95.7%) subjects were women with an average age of 44.43 years, median duration of 36 months, and most had moderate activity (52.2%). Most patients had a positive RF (63%). The correlation between RF levels and VCAM-1 levels had a weak correlation strength but was not statistically significant (r= 0.264; p= 0.076). Subjects with RF positive had higher levels of VCAM-1 (626.89 vs. 540.96 ng / mL). Conclusion. There is no correlation yet between RF and VCAM-1 in RA patient s without metabolic syndrome.