Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Patients With Ankylosing Spondylitis
Mehmet UÇAR1, Savaş SARIKAYA2, Ümit SARP3, Yaşar TURAN2, Lütfi AKYOL4, Elif BÖREKÇİ4, Alirıza ERBAY2, Vahit DEMİR5
1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical Faculty of Bozok University, Yozgat, Turkey
2Department of Cardiology, Medical Faculty of Bozok University, Yozgat, Turkey
3Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Yozgat State Hospital, Yozgat, Turkey
4Department of Internal Medicine, Medical Faculty of Bozok University, Yozgat, Turkey
5Department of Cardiology, Yozgat State Hospital, Yozgat, Turkey
Keywords: Ankylosing spondylitis, cardiometabolic risk factors, epicardial fat thickness
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to evaluate cardiometabolic risk factors in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients and their relationship with epicardial fat thickness (EFT).
Patients and methods: The study included 50 consecutive AS patients (29 males, 21 females; mean age 40.5±9.4 years; range 25 to 60 years) with a median disease duration of 8.3 years and 50 healthy controls (33 males, 17 females; mean age 39.8±6.4 years, range 24 to 58 years). All patients’ EFT was measured with echocardiography.
Results: Both body mass index and waist circumference measurements were higher in AS patients than healthy controls (25.4±3.5. vs. 24.5±2.9 kg/m2, p=0.005; 96.2±10.8 vs. 86.7±12.6 cm, p<0.001; respectively). Triglyceride levels were higher in AS patients than healthy controls (123.0±47.7 vs. 110.1±61.0 mg/dL, p=0.009; respectively). High-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were lower in AS patients than healthy controls (41.3±7.0 vs. 51.9±7.0 mg/dL, p<0.001; respectively). The EFT of AS patients was greater (0.53±0.14 vs. 0.45±0.02 cm, p<0.001; respectively) and was positively correlated with age (r=0.420, p=0.002), disease duration (r=0.609, p<0.001), body mass index (r=0.419, p=0.002), waist circumference (r=0.469, p<0.001), and triglyceride (r=0.434, p=0.002) levels; and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (r= -0.662, p<0.001).
Conclusion: As a cardiometabolic risk factor, EFT was greater in AS patients. EFT is a noninvasive method to evaluate cardiometabolic risk factors in AS patients.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.