{
  "abstract": "Objectives To assess for the first time a combination of new and established markers of macrovascular damage in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using oscillometry and greyscale/colour Doppler ultrasound (GSUS/CDUS) and, additionally, to explore associations of these markers with traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and patient and disease characteristics.Methods CDUS was used to assess arterial compliance markers, such as the Resistance-Index (RI) and Pulsatility-Index (PI) of the common (CCA) and internal carotid artery (ICA) in SLE patients and healthy controls. Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), atherosclerotic plaque and total calcification area were evaluated by GSUS. Aortic stiffness was measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV).Results We recruited 185 SLE patients and 150 controls. After propensity-score matching, patients showed higher CCA-PI (padj=0.006), CCA-RI (padj=0.028), ICA-RI (padj=0.011) and carotid plaque (padj<0.001), compared with controls. Among patients, elevated C reactive protein was associated with higher ICA-RI (padj=0.016), and ANA positivity with higher CCA-PI (padj=0.009) and CCA-RI (padj=0.011). ICA-PI correlated with lung involvement (padj=0.011), whereas both cfPWV (padj=0.003) and total plaque area were inversely related with CO-diffusion (padj=0.018). cIMT and cfPWV both showed positive correlations with age (p<0.001) and mean arterial pressure (p<0.001), and inverse correlations with estimated glomerular filtration rate (both p<0.05).Conclusions In the first study of CV surrogate markers in SLE combining oscillometry and carotid CDUS/GSUS, patients showed increased carotid pulsatility and resistance compared with controls. Furthermore, several patient-related and disease-related factors were identified as angiopathy predictors. These results suggest that combined evaluation of CV surrogate markers may help detect subclinical organ damage and improve CV-risk classification in SLE.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Rhineland-Palatinate Rheumatology Center, Bad Kreuznach, Germany",
        "Department of Internal Medicine I, Johannes Gutenberg University Hospital Mainz, Mainz, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Konstantinos Triantafyllias"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Rhineland-Palatinate Rheumatology Center, Bad Kreuznach, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Felix Tietze"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Rheumatology, University of Crete School of Medicine, Iraklio, Greece",
        "Laboratory of Autoimmunity-Inflammation, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Heraklion, Greece"
      ],
      "name": "George Bertsias"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Rheumatology, Hopitaux universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France"
      ],
      "name": "Jacques-Eric Gottenberg"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "First Department of Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg University Hospital Mainz, Mainz, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Andreas Schwarting"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Novel vascular damage markers in SLE: insights from carotid colour Doppler ultrasound and aortic oscillometry in the LUPCARD cohort",
  "uid": "de526c35-40aa-5867-aa2c-76dd59ac1134"
}