Sodergren_2015_Biomed.Res.Int_2015_673018

OBJECTIVE: Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), a marker of vascular inflammation, is associated with cardiovascular disease. This prospective study of an inception cohort aimed to investigate whether the level of Lp-PLA2 is associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
METHODS: Patients from northern Sweden diagnosed with early RA were consecutively recruited into an ongoing prospective study. From these, all patients RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the level of Lp-PLA2 between patients with RA and controls (p > 0.05). In simple linear regression models among patients with RA, Lp-PLA2 at T0 was significantly associated with intima media thickness (IMT) at T0 and T5, flow mediated dilation (FMD) at T0 and T5, ever smoking, male sex, HDL-cholesterol (inversely), non-HDL-cholesterol, SCORE, Reynolds Risk Score, and Larsen score (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION. In this cohort of patients with early RA, the concentration of Lp-PLA2 was associated with both subclinical atherosclerosis and disease severity.