Evaluación del riesgo cardiovascular en pacientes con espondiloartritis predominantemente axial

Resumo

The present dissertation confirms the existence of a process of accelerated atherosclerosis in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), as occurs in other inflammatory diseases. However, this process was not observed in non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, probably because of its inferior inflammatory response. These findings were obtained through 2 studies, which assessed the intima media thickness and the presence of atherosclerotic plaques by performing carotid ultrasound in both patients and healthy controls. Psoriasis and C-reactive protein levels > 3mg/L at diagnosis were associated with carotid plaques. In a third study we observed that around 20% and 60% of AS patients with low and intermediate cardiovascular (CV) risk according to different CV risk algorithms had ultrasonographic findings of very high CV risk (carotid plaques). With the aim to identify most of them, we designed a diagnostic model combining the use of the SCORE and carotid ultrasound.