Correlations between serum Lp-PLA2 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and carotid atherosclerosis

ZHAO Pei; LI Yonghui; YU Yueqing; HUO Lijing; ZHANG Mingming; GAO Wei; TIE Yanqing

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-266X.2016.21.006

Abstract：Objective To investigate the relationship between serum lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2)and carotid atherosclerosis (CAS)in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods Seventy-two cases of RA patients (RA group:28 cases in inactive phase,44 cases in active phase)and 50 cases of healthy people (control group) were selected.In each group,the carotid artery color Doppler ultrasound diagnostic instrument was used to carry out CAS examination.The morbidity of CAS and carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT)value were compared between RA group and control group.The level of serum Lp-PLA2 was detected by semi-automatic immunoassay.The levels of Lp-PLA2 were compared between the RA patients in active phase and inactive phase.The morbidity of CAS was compared in RA pa-tients with different serum Lp-PLA2 levels.Then the correlations were analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis,Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the risk factors of RA patients complicated with CAS.Results The morbidity of CAS and the carotid artery IMT value in the RA group were significantly higher than those of the control group (all P <0.05).The levels of Lp-PLA2 were also higher in RA patients complicated with CAS than those without CAS.The levels of Lp-PLA2 in RA patients in active phase were higher than those in inactive phase.The higher the Lp-PLA2 level was,the higher the morbidity of CAS became (all P <0.05).Spearman correlation analysis showed that IMT value and Lp-PLA2 level were positively correlated (rs =0.154,P <0.05),Logistic regression analysis showed that the increased Lp-PLA2 level was one of the risk factors for CAS in RA patients (OR =2.52,P <0.05).Conclusion Higher serum Lp-PLA2 level may contribute to the occurrence of CAS in RA patients.