Introduction:

Rheumatoid arthritis within its expression as a systemic inflammatory disease presents extra-articular manifestations.

Objectives:

To determine the frequency of extra-articular manifestations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, to identify the most frequent and their association with antibodies against citrullinated cyclic peptides.

Methods:

A descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in 101 patients with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, assisted in the protocolized consultation of Rheumatology service at Hermanos Ameijeiras Clinical Surgical Hospital, from August to December 2019. Sociodemographic characteristics were identified, such as age, sex, time of evolution of rheumatoid arthritis, smoking habits. The presence of extra-articular manifestations was searched for by questioning, physical examination and with the help of complementary tests, and the titers of antibodies against citrullinated cyclic peptides were determined in the plasma of the patients.

Results:

Extra-articular manifestations were present in 38 patients, 37.6% of the cases, the most frequent were subcutaneous nodules in 37 patients, and anemia in 35, which constituted 36.6% and 34.7% of the cases, respectively. Seventy eight patients were positive for citrullinated cyclic antipeptides, 77.2% of the sample, there was no association between the presence of citrullinated cyclic antipeptides and the activity of the disease. There was no significant association between the presence of these antibodies and the presence of extra-articular manifestations p <0.0001, the association between the levels of citrullinated cyclic antipeptides and the number of extra-articular manifestations in a patient was significant p=0.0018.

Conclusions:

The existing joint manifestations in the studied patients were significantly associated with the presence of citrullinated cyclic antipeptides.

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