Metabolic Syndrome in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Inflammation is a key component of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus also as risk factors of cardiovascular disease. Patients with chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus have an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. The expected higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components in rheumatic diseases (such as possible cause of increased cardiovascular risk) was confirmed in rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis. The aim of our study was to assess the relationship of rheumatoid arthritis to increased cardiovascular risk in the presence of risk factors involved in complex of metabolic syndrome, including prediabetic state, central obesity, atherogenic dyslipidemia, and hypertension. In the sample of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome according to IDF, AHA/NHLBI and also NCEP ATPIII criteria compared with the Slovak population in all age groups is higher. In patients older than 60 years according to IDF criteria was more than 55 %. Patients treated with methotrexate had the lowest prevalence of metabolic syndrome, even lower than the control population. The most frequented component of the metabolic syndrome was obesity (whether in the evaluation of waist circumference or BMI). Also, patients with higher inflammatory activity (evaluated by CRP) had a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome.