Resumen:
Background Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA), have a higher cardiovascular risk than the general population. There are data in other pathologies about the role of leukocyte adhesion on endothelial damage.
Objectives To evaluate the relationship between leukocyte adhesion and subclinical vascular damage in patients with RA and PsA.
Methods Observational, cross-sectional exploratory study. Patients with RA and PsA who had at least one previous vascular study were recruited in a tertiary hospital during a period of 3 months. All of them donated a sample of fresh blood. Neutrophils were isolated and perfused on a monolayer of healthy endothelial cells of the umbilical cord vein to evaluate its degree of activation, determining the leukocyte adhesion parameter. The expression of different adhesion molecules was analyzed by flow cytometry. We also gathered demographic (sex, age, BMI), clinical (disease duration, classical CV risk factors) and analytical (CRP, ESR) variables. The previous vascular study consisted of an exploration of the extracranial carotid tree with an Esaote MyLab70XVG ultrasound scanner with a linear p...