Clinical features and related factors of rheumatoid arthritis complicated with cardiovascular damage

AIM To investigate the clinical features and related factors of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). METHODSClinical data of 112 patients hospitalized in Tangdu Hospital from January 2012-December 2014 were collected. Retrospective analysis of the data and relevant logistic regression analysis were performed. RESULTSCompared with those in RA patients without CVD, age of onset was younger and course of the disease was longer (P<0.05). No significant difference was observed in gender ratio, age and body mass index (BMI). The common damage found in RA-CVD group was hypertension, hyperlipidemia and coronary heart disease. The most common cardiac abnormality detected by ultrasound was valvular regurgitation (60.8%). Logistic regression analysis showed that DAS-28 score, CRP, elevated TC and D-dimer levels were closely associated with RA-CVD. CONCLUSIONCardiovascular damage in RA patients is common and also diverse joint manifestations. DAS28 score, elevated CRP, TC and D-dimer are closely related to RA-CVD.