Introduction:

Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic autoimmune disease, although it mainly affects the synovial joints. Beyond the implications for the patient's quality of life, the presence of rheumatoid arthritis is associated with a reduction in life expectancy in 5-10 years. The standardized mortality rate associated with rheumatoid arthritis is higher than that found in the unaffected population; and this excess mortality is largely attributed to cardiovascular diseases, of which atherosclerotic vascular disease is the main component.

Objective:

To determine how the risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease behaved in patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis compared to the control group.

Methods:

An observational, case-control study was carried out from January 2007 to January 2017. A hundred ten (110) patients and 220 controls were studied. In both groups, the frequency of risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia) was analyzed, matched by age and sex.

Results:

Female patients predominated. The median age of the patients was 41.0 years. Smoking was more frequent variable in the cases (23.6% vs 11.4%, p=0.004), as well as arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus.

Conclusions:

In the present study, risk factors such as smoking, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia were more frequent in patients with rheumatoid arthritis than in the control group.

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