title: Is There an Increased Arterial Stiffness in Patients with Primary Sjögren's Syndrome?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a common chronic autoimmune disease that primarily affects the salivary and lacrimal glands. Arterial stiffness is one of the earliest detectable manifestations of adverse structural and functional changes within the vessel wall. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between arterial stiffness and pSS.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, 75 female patients with pSS who fulfilled the American European Consensus Criteria for Sjögren's syndrome, were included. A total of 68 age-, sex- and body mass index-matched subjects were recruited as the control population. Arterial stiffness was assessed by measurement of the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the patients was 54.0±9.3 years and the median duration of the disease was 10 years. Compared with the control subjects, patients with pSS had a higher mean PWV (8.2±1.5 m/s vs. 7.5±1.4 m/s; p=0.01). Correlation analysis showed that the PWV was positively correlated with age, body mass index, serum cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and C-reactive protein levels, blood pressure, mean arterial pressure (MAP), pulse pressure and left ventricular mass index. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed that arterial stiffness was associated with age, MAP and LDL levels in pSS patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although patients with pSS appear to have increased arterial stiffness, risk factors associated with arterial stiffness in these patients are similar to the general population. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that a higher PWV in pSS patients is caused, not by pSS itself, but by the use of steroids, hypertension and dyslipidemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Turkey.
authors.forename: Meltem
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sezis Demirci
authors.forename: Gonca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Karabulut
authors.forename: Ozkan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gungor
authors.forename: Aygul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Celtik
authors.forename: Ercan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ok
authors.forename: Yasemin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kabasakal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D015992:Body Mass Index; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D004452:Echocardiography; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D059289:Vascular Stiffness