Evaluation of Cardiac Risk Factors in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Student Research Committee, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

2 Cardiovascular Diseases Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

3 Department of Internal Medicine, MMS.C., Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran

4 Master of Statistics, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

Abstract

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory disease with irreversible joint destruction. Chronic inflammation is also associated with cardiovascular disease. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a connective tissue autoimmune disease characterized by varying clinical manifestations and severity.
 
Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the cardiac risk factors in patients with RA and SLE.
 
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the files of 274 patients with RA and SLE who were referred to the rheumatology private clinic and hospitals were reviewed. Demographic and biochemical data were extracted. Anthropometric measurements and blood pressure were also measured. The statistical analysis was performed using Chi-Square and independent T-Test (SPSS software). A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
 
Results: Ninety-two point seven percent of the subjects were female. Two hundred twenty-eight patients had RA, and 46 patients had SLE. The mean waist circumference was significantly higher in RA patients compared to SLE patients (92.5 ± 15.3 vs 87.3 ± 12.8 cm, p = 0.04). No significant differences were observed in terms of the other cardiac risk factors. The rate of abdominal obesity (86.60%) and dyslipidemia (80.50%) was higher in the SLE than the RA patients. The prevalence of overweight and obesity (78.5%), hypertension (28.80%), diabetes (13.10%), history of heart disease (9.60%), and smoking (2.60%) was higher in the RA than the SLE patients.
 
Conclusion: Among the study population, there was a high rate of obesity, dyslipidemia, and abdominal obesity among the RA and SLE patients. Regular monitoring and timely strategies are essential to manage these risk factors and improve patients' outcomes.

Keywords

Acknowledgements: Authors of this study would like to thank "Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran" and "Hospital Clinical Research Development Center" for consulting and cooperation. (Research plan code: IR.BUMS.REC.1398.191).

 

Availability of data and materials: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

 

Conflicts of interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

 

Consent for publication: Not applicable.

 

Ethics approval and consent to participate: All participants provided written informed consent before the study began. This study was conducted in accordance with ethical guidelines and was approved by the ethics committee, which assigned the code IR.BUMS.REC.1398.191.This study was conducted following the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

 

Financial disclosure: No financial support was received for this study.

 

Author contributions: Samaneh Moghimi Shahri performed conceptualization, data curation, investigation, methodology, validation, visualization, and writing – original draft, as well as writing – review and editing. Khadijeh Gholami performed conceptualization, data curation, investigation, methodology, validation, visualization, and writing – original draft. Toba Kazemi performed conceptualization, project administration, supervision, methodology, resources, validation, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing. Zohreh Nobakht performed investigation, resource gathering, validation, supervision, writing, review, and editing. Ehsan Afkar performed a formal analysis of software.

 

 

Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Razavi Journal of Medicine

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 16 September 2025

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