Cardiovascular disease in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: A cross-sectional analysis of 6 cohorts

To analyze in several immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) the influence of demographic and clinical-related variables on the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and compare their standardized prevalences. Cross-sectional study, including consecutive patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, psoriasis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Crohn disease, or ulcerative colitis, from rheumatology, gastroenterology, and dermatology tertiary care outpatient clinics located throughout Spain, between 2007 and 2010. Our main outcome was defined as previous diagnosis of angina, myocardial infarction, peripheral vascular disease, and/or stroke. Bivariate and multivariate logistic and mixed-effects logistic regression models were performed for each condition and the overall cohort, respectively. Standardized prevalences (in subjects per 100 patients, with 95% confidence intervals) were calculated using marginal analysis. We included 9951 patients. For each IMID, traditional cardiovascular risk factors had a different contribution to CVD. Overall, older age, longer disease duration, presence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, and male sex were independently associated with a higher CVD prevalence. After adjusting for demographic and traditional cardiovascular risk factors, systemic lupus erythematosus exhibited the highest CVD standardized prevalence, followed by rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn disease, psoriatic arthritis, and ulcerative colitis (4.5 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.2, 6.8], 1.3 [95% CI: 0.8, 1.8], 0.9 [95% CI: 0.5, 1.2], 0.8 [95% CI: 0.2, 1.3], 0.6 [95% CI: 0.2, 1.0], and 0.5 [95% CI: 0.1, 0.8], respectively). Systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis are associated with higher prevalence of CVD compared with other IMIDs. Specific prevention programs should be established in subjects affected with these conditions to prevent CVD.