Ocena zależności między ciśnieniem centralnym w aorcie a zesztywniającym zapaleniem stawów kręgosłupa

Introduction . Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease with an unknown etiology that belongs to the group of spondyloarthropathies. Patients with AS have an increased cardiovascular mortality but the reason is controversial. Central aortic pressure (CAP) is defined as the blood pressure in the aortic root and can be measured non-invasively via arteriography. Inflammation in the aortic root, which also causes aortic regurgitation in late sta ges of AS, possibly causes increased levels of central aortic pressure and this may explain the increased mortality rates from cardiovascular events in patients with AS. We investigated the CAP levels in patients with AS compared to healthy age- and sex-matched control group in this novel study. Material and methods . This is an observational case-control study composed of 30 patients with ankylosing spondylitis without conventional cardiovascular risk factors (such as known diabetes, hypertension, and smoking) or heart failure, peripheral or coronary artery disease. The peripheral blood pressures and CAP measurements were obtained with ‘arteriograph’ (TensioMed, Budapest, Hungary).Pulse wave velocity (PWV), peripheral and central augmentation index (pAIx and cAIx) and systolic central aortic pressure (sCAP) of both the AS and control group were compared. Results . There was no statistically significant difference between the groups for pAIx, cAIx, PWV or PP. Patient with AS had higher sCAP values but there wasn’t any statistically significant difference for sCAP. Conclusion . Our objective was to investigate the relationship between the AS and sCAP. There was an increase in sCAP in AS group compared to controls. But this was not statistically significant. This result can be due to the small population size and should be verified in larger population.