SAT0077 CARDIOVASCULAR RISK ASSESSMENT WITH CAROTID ULTRASONOGRAPHY IN ADDITION TO THE TRADITIONAL CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS PATIENTS: A CASE CONTROL STUDY

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CV) is the most frequent cause of death in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. It is well known that RA acts as an independent cardiovascular risk factor. Objectives: To assess the CV risk in RA patients using carotid ultrasonography (US) additionally to the traditional CV risk factors. Methods: A prospective transversal case control study was performed, including adult RA patients who fulfilled ACR/EULAR 2010 criteria and healthy controls matched according to CV risk factors. Population over 75 years old, patients with established CV disease and/or chronic kidney failure (from III stage) were excluded. The US evaluator was blinded to the case/control condition and evaluated the presence of plaques and the intima-media thickness. Statistical analysis was performed with R (3.6.1 version) and included a multivariate variance analysis (MANOVA) and a negative binomial regression adjusted by confounding factors (age, sex and CV risk factors). Results: A total of 200 cases and 111 healthy controls were included in the study. Demographical, clinical and US data are exposed in table 1. Not any difference was detected in terms of CV risk factors between the cases and controls. In both groups a relationship between age, BMI and high blood pressure was detected (p Conclusion: RA implies a higher CV risk. Traditional CV risk factors explains only partially the global risk. These findings support that RA acts as an independent cardiovascular risk factor. Disclosure of Interests: None declared