Epicardial Fat Thickness as Cardiovascular Risk Factor and Therapeutic Target in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated with Biological and Nonbiological Therapies
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness may act as a therapeutic target during treatments with drugs modulating the adipose tissue. We evaluate EAT thickness in RA patients treated with biological and nonbiological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). A cross-sectional study was conducted with a cohort of 34 female RA patients and 16 controls matched for age and body mass index (BMI). Plasma glucose, basal insulin, plasma lipids, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were assessed. EAT thickness and left ventricular mass (LVM) were measured by echocardiography. No significant differences in waist circumference (WC), blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, basal insulin, and lipid parameters were found between the groups. The control group showed lower concentrations (P = 0.033) of hs-CRP and LVM (P = 0.0001) than those of the two RA groups. Patients treated with TNF-α inhibitors showed significantly lower EAT thickness than those treated with nonbiological DMARDs (8.56 ± 1.90 mm versus 9.71 ± 1.45 mm; P = 0.04). Women with no RA revealed reduced EAT thickness (5.39 ± 1.52 mm) as compared to all RA patients (P = 0.001). Results suggest that RA patients have greater EAT thickness than controls regardless of BMI and WC.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
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3%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
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3%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences
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3%
Other
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8%
Unknown
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33%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 29 January 2015.
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#21,962,504
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Outputs from Arthritis (20901984)
#50
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#258,787
of 421,919 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Arthritis (20901984)
#2
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