[Ventricular diastolic dysfunction in rheumatoid arthritis].
Rheumatoid arthritis ( RA) is a chronic and systemic articular inflammatory disease, often associated with cardiac manifestations. However, cardiac involvement in RA is not always symptomatic. Previous studies reported high mortality rates for RA and that it was dependent on concurrent heart dis-ease. Myocardial infarction and inflammation have been reported in about 2% of the patients in autopsy studies. The earliest deterioration in cardiac disease is in diastolic function.


OBJECTIVE
the aim of this study is to evaluate the ventricular diastolic dysfunction in patients with RA and its relation with the duration of the disease.


METHODS
Thirty-two RA patients who attended the rheumatology unit at Hospital Cordoba during 2004 participated in this study. A control group was formed by thirty two healthy adults of matched sex and age. RA was diagnosed according to 1987 ACR criteria. None of them had diabetes mellitus, systemic hypertension, chronic lung disease, congenital cardiac malformation, coronary artery disease, arrhytmia or valvular heart disease. Two-dimensional, M-mode, pulsed and color Doppler echocardiography were performed on all these subjects by the same examiner. Diastolic dysfunction was defined when the E/A ratio was <1 (E wave velocity decreased, A wave velocity increased) , and desaceleration time (DT) and isovolumic relaxation time (IRT) were prolonged. Ap-value < 0.05 was considered as significant.


RESULTS
The mean ages were 48,38 11,08 for patients and 46,81 9,96 for the control group.There were no significant differences between age, sex, heart rate, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure between RA patients and controls. Higher proportion of RA patients had E/A ratio < 1compared with the controls ( p<00001). The mean IRT value was significantly longer than in controls ( 83,59 1 13,82 vs 74,41 i 15,14 p<0.01). There was no correlation between the duration of illness and E/A ratio and IRT ( p=0.70, p=0.13).


CONCLUSIONS
Diastolic function was impaired in patients with RA. There was no relation between some of the parameters of ventricular diastolic function and disease duration. These findings suggest a subclinical myocardial involvement in RA patients.
Unidad de Reumatología y Ecocardiografía Hospital, Córdoba, Argentina.
C
C
Lascano
Paula
P
Alba
C
C
Gobbi
F
F
Videla
F
F
Campos
H
H
Sosa
A
A
Babini
I
I
Exeni
E
E
Albiero
D017668:Age of Onset; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*