Patients Take Ankylosing Spondylitis to Heart
Be vigilant for cardiovascular risk factors in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, advise Norwegian researchers.
Reference1. Midtbø H, Gerdts E, Berg IJ, et al. Ankylosing spondylitis is associated with increased prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy. J Rheumatol. 2018 Jun 1. pii: jrheum.171124. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.171124. [Epub ahead of print].
Midtbø and colleagues in Norway found an increased prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) among patients with ankylosing spondylitis-independent of other cardiovascular (CV) risk factors.1
Scroll through the slides for the details of the study and the take-home points for physicians.
(Image credit: ©martan/Shutterstock.com)
LVH, left ventricular hypertrophy.
AS, ankylosing spondylitis.
AS, ankylosing spondylitis; CRP, C-reactive protein; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; LVH, left ventricular hypertrophy; NSAID, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
Subjects with AS had more eccentric LVH, while control subjects had more concentric LVH. There was no difference in the rate of valvular disease between the two groups.
