Conference 2021 Poster Presentation

 

Project title

Identification of Risk Factors implicated in Cardiovascular Events in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

 

Authors and Affiliations

Ergina Syrigou1, Christos Tsagkaris2, Dimitrios Moysidis3, Andreas Papazoglou3, Anna Maria Louka4, Nikolaos Sevdalis5, Anca Bobirca M.D, Phd.1

1. University Of Medicine And Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Bucharest, Romania,
2. University of Crete, Faculty of Medicine, Heraklion, Greece,
3. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Medicine, Thessaloniki, Greece,
4. Novel Global Community Educational Foundation, Hebersham, Australia,
5. Medical University of Sofia, Faculty of Medicine, Sofia, Bulgaria

 

Abstract

Background

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a syndrome of great complexity, with its basis on an autoimmune mechanism, in which organs as well as cells undergo damage. Prevalence in the USA varies from 10-400 patients per 100,000 with a female predominance. Among other body systems, the cardiovascular system is also prone to SLE manifestations. SLE patients have substantially increased morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) due to premature atherosclerosis, valvular heart disease, myocardial infarction and stroke among others. This risk cannot be fully explained by the traditional CVD risk factors. The purpose of our study is to identify risk factors implicated in CVD in patients with SLE.

Methods

A retrospective non-interventional descriptive study was performed on data of patients collected from 170 patients diagnosed with SLE in the Clinical Hospital Dr. Ion Cantacuzino, Internal Medicine and Rheumatology Department. All the patients in the study have also been diagnosed with at least one CVD and suffered from it after they were diagnosed with of SLE. The duration of the analysis was between 01.01.2015 – 01.07.2019. We used SPSS for the statistical processing of the results so as to identify statistically significant (p value <0.05) risk factors.

Results

Hyperlipidemia, hypertension and obesity were the most common traditional risk factors. Treatment with corticosteroid and NSAIDs were the most common disease related factors, while Cushing’s syndrome, deep vein thrombosis, antiphospholipid syndrome, anemia and lymphopenia were the most common comorbidities identified as risk factors. Osteoporosis accompanies cardiovascular disorders in SLE patients as an independent risk factor.

Conclusions

SLE is regarded as a prototypal connective tissue disease with systematic manifestations. At the same time, CVD consists of the prominent morbidity and mortality factor in the western world. Identifying risk factors encrypted not only in the context of SLE but also among its treatment options and comorbidities can be the next step towards personalized evidence – based care.