Cardiovascular risk factors in gout, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis: a cross-sectional survey of patients in Western Sweden

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to compare traditional (trad) cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) among patients with gout, psoriatic arthritis (PsA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) stratified by sex. METHODS: A survey was sent to patients with gout (n=1589), PsA (n=1200), RA (n=1246) and AS (n=1095). Patients were retrieved from Sahlgrenska University Hospital, the hospitals of Uddevalla and Skövde, and 12 primary care centres in Western Sweden. The prevalence of self-reported trad-CVRFs was compared between diagnoses by age standardisation with the 2018 population of Sweden as the standard population. RESULTS: In total, 2896 (56.5%) of 5130 patients responded. Hypertension was the most frequently found comorbidity, reported by 65% of patients with gout, 41% with PsA, 43% with RA and 29% with AS. After age standardisation, women and men with gout had significantly more obesity (body mass index ≥30 kg/m(2)), hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and multiple trad-CVRFs, compared with those with PsA, RA and AS. Obesity was significantly more common in PsA than in RA. In women, obesity, hypertension and multiple trad-CVRFs were more frequently reported in PsA than in RA and AS, whereas similar prevalence of CVRFs and coexistence of multiple trad-CVRFs were found in men with PsA, RA and AS. CONCLUSIONS: Women and men with gout had the highest prevalence of trad-CVRFs. Differences in occurrence of CVRFs by sex were found in patients with PsA, RA and AS. In women, patients with PsA had higher occurrence of trad-CVRFs than those with RA and AS, whereas in men the distribution of CVRFs was similar in PsA, RA and AS.