RESEARCH - Peripheral artery function impaired in RA patients

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Peripheral artery function impaired in RA patients

3/3/2005

By: Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Mar 2 - Peripheral artery incompressibility and

obstruction appear to be increased in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

(RA), Texas-based researchers report. The findings, Dr. Inmaculada del

Rincon told Reuters Health, " mean that RA patients are at high risk of

experiencing peripheral vascular disease, a risk that has not been

previously recognized. "

As Dr. del Rincon noted, " the study showed an increased prevalence of

impaired peripheral artery function in the patients with RA that was not

effaced after adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors. "

Dr. del Rincon and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science

Center, San studied the lower limb arteries in 234 RA patients and

102 controls, and report their findings in the March issue of the ls of

the Rheumatic Diseases.

In the RA patients, 66 of 931 arteries (7%) were incompressible and 30 (3%)

were obstructed. Corresponding proportions in 408 control arteries were 0.7%

and 1%.

Overall, abnormal arteries were seen in 19% of RA patients and 5% of

controls.

" Both arterial obstruction and arterial incompressibility seemed to occur

mainly among patients with the most advanced arthritic changes in their

joints, " Dr. del Rincon noted. Most impairments were seen in patients with

20 or more deformed joints.

" Symptoms of peripheral vascular disease may go unnoticed in RA, " she

commented, " because of the low cardiovascular demands of most patients,

which are unlikely to elicit claudication symptoms. "

By

Last Updated: 2005-03-02 13:50:22 -0400 (Reuters Health)

Ann Rheum Dis 2005;64:425-4332.

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Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org