title: Cardiovascular involvement in systemic autoimmune diseases.
abstract: Autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), systemic sclerosis and systemic vasculitis, affect a large number of people in whom one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality is cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is associated with the development of accelerated atherosclerosis. It seems to occur at a younger age than in the general population, is often asymptomatic and, in addition to traditional risk factors, also involves specific risk factors as chronic inflammation, the duration and activity of the autoimmune disease, and immunosuppressive therapy. The early phases of cardiovascular involvement in patients with autoimmune diseases may be clinically silent, with only a microcirculation disorder present. There are various means of detecting morphological cardiac damage: coronary angiography remains the gold standard for diagnosing coronary stenosis, but new, non invasive and more reliable methods have been introduced into clinical practice in order to detect subclinical microcirculation abnormalities.
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Orthopedic Galeazzi Institute, University of Milan, Department of Health Technologies, Cardiology Unit, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sitia
authors.forename: Fabiola
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Atzeni
authors.forename: Piercarlo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sarzi-Puttini
authors.forename: Vitantonio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Di Bello
authors.forename: Livio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tomasoni
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Delfino
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Antonini-Canterin
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Salvo
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: De Gennaro Colonna
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: La Carrubba
authors.forename: Scipione
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carerj
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Turiel
mesh_terms: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D004452:Echocardiography; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents