Our cohort includes a series of approximately 700 patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis that have been screened for the presence of cardiovascular (CV) disease, either clinically by the review of case histories or subclinically using carotid ultrasound to determine the presence of carotid plaques and the carotid intima-media-wall thickness since 2010. At the time of carotid ultrasound assessment, all patients were studied to determine the presence of traditional CV risk factors, chronic renal failure or family history of CV disease or dyslipidemia. In addition, at that time, disease activity evaluation and a new determination of laboratory data encompassing ultrasensitive CRP, ESR, full blood cell count and biochemistry profile including lipids was carried out. Also, once that ethical committee approval was obtained, RA patients were asked to participate in genetics studies and in other studied focused on the analysis of biomarkers of endothelial damage, metabolic syndrome and adipokines abnormalities. Patients recruited have been prospectively followed at the Rheumatology patients’ clinic to establish CV outcome.
