SAT0127 Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Show Significantly Worse Subclinical Vascular Damage than Healthy and Hypertensive People

BackgroundRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with a significantly enhanced risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular (CV) disease that contributes to morbidity and mortality. Pulse wave velocity (PWV), common carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), and the detection of atherosclerotic plaques by carotid ultrasound are tools to determine vascular damage in preclinical stages of atherosclerotic disease. Vascular damage is increased in patients with RA and other illnesses with elevated CV risk, like hypertension.ObjectivesTo assess the presence of vascular damage alterations in carotid ultrasound and determination of PWV in patients with RA as compared with healthy and hypertensive (HT) controls group.MethodsWe evaluated 181 consecutive patients with RA without clinical artery disease (cardiovascular events: ischemic heart disease or stroke), diabetes mellitus (DM), or severe chronic renal disease (defined by a glomerular filtration rate