STUDY ON CAROTID INTIMAL THICKNESS IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS PATIENTS AS MARKER OF ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN RURAL POPULATION OF KOLAR DISTRICT
Dr. Prabhakar K., *Dr. Sridhar Sreenivasan G., Dr. Reddy Prasad K., Dr. Vidyasagar R. and Dr. Prajeet R
ABSTRACT
Objectives: 1.) To find the association of carotid intimal thickness in rheumatoid arthritis patients. 2.) To study
carotid intimal thickness in healthy controls. 3.) To compare the carotid intimal thickness in rheumatoid arthritis
patients with age and sex matched healthy controls. Materials and Methods: A total of 138 people were selected
for the study. Subjects for the study were selected from R. L. Jalappa Hospital and Sri Narasimharaja (SNR)
Government Hospital, Kolar, who were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis according to the RA ACR/EULAR
2010 criteria. The control group consisted of healthy, non-diabetic, non-hypertensive and non-smoking subjects
who were selected from the patient bystanders attending the hospital. Carotid intima-media thickness was
measured in both sets of cases and was compared with age and sex matched controls. Results: A significant
difference was found between cases and controls. Mean Right CIMT (mm) in cases was 0.58 ± 0.15 and in controls
was 0.47 ± 0.04. Mean Left CIMT (mm) in cases was 0.60 ± 0.15 and in controls was 0.46 ± 0.04, which shows a
positive correlation between rheumatoid arthritis and an increase in carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). ESR,
CRP and RA factor also showed a positive correlation with CIMT. Conclusion: The study established that
subclinical atherosclerosis, identified through CIMT, is a surrogate marker in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A
positive correlation was also established between duration of disease, ESR, CRP, RA factor and increasing CIMT.
Keywords: rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, carotid intima-media thickness.
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