Evaluation of Atrial Conduction Times, Epicardial Fat Thickness and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Patients With Ankylosing Spondylitis
Sabri Onur ÇAĞLAR1, İsmail BOYRAZ2, Fatma ERDEM1, Selma YAZICI2, Hilal ÇAĞLAR2, Bünyamin KOÇ2, Emrah ÇAĞLAR3, Mehmet YAZICI1
1Department of Cardiology, Abant İzzet Baysal Training and Research Hospital, Bolu, Turkey
2Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical Faculty of Abant İzzet Baysal University, Bolu, Turkey
3Department of Radiology, Abant İzzet Baysal Training and Research Hospital, Bolu, Turkey
Keywords: Ankylosing spondylitis, atrial conduction time, carotid intima-media thickness, epicardial fat thickness
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to determine the relationship between atrial electromechanical delay (EMD), carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), and epicardial fat thickness (EFT) in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), which has a complicated inflammatory nature.
Patients and methods: The study population included 42 consecutive patients with AS (28 males, 14 females; mean age 39.3±8.5 years; range 22 to 60 years) and 40 healthy subjects as controls (24 males, 16 females; mean age 37.2±8.7 years; range 22 to 60 years) (p>0.05). All patients underwent a standard tissue Doppler echocardiography to assess the left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, atrial EMD, CIMT, and EFT. All values were compared between the groups.
Results: Interatrial (29.5±5.8 ms vs. 17.9±5.3 ms) left and right intraatrial EMD (18.2±4.6 ms and 11.7±3.5 ms vs. 11.9±3.2 ms and 7.1±3.2 ms, respectively) intervals were longer in AS patients than in healthy controls (all p<0.001). Left and right CIMT (0.50±0.11 mm and 0.44±0.06 mm vs. 0.51±0.11 mm and 0.43±0.04 mm, respectively) and EFT (0.73±0.15 cm and 0.63±0.07 cm) values were higher in AS patients than in healthy controls (all p<0.01).
Conclusion: To our best knowledge, this is the first report evaluating the atrial EMD, CIMT, and EFT values together in AS patients. As indicators of cardiovascular involvement, all parameters were higher 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.