METABOLIC SYNDROME AND SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS
- Fabiola Atzeni, Italy
Abstract
Background and Aims
Few published studies have investigated the correlations between systemic sclerosis (SSc) and the metabolic syndrome (MetS), but one Mexican study has reported that the prevalence of MetS in SSc patients is 36.4%. The aim of this cross-sectional observational study was to evaluate the prevalence of MetS in patients with SSc, and investigate the correlations between the MetS and the clinical and laboratory variables of SSc.
Methods
MetS was diagnosed on the basis of the 2005 criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program and the International Diabetes Federation, and SSc on the basis of the 2013 ACR/EULAR classification criteria.
Results
We enrolled 57 patients with SSc (54 women, 94.7%, mean age + SD 62.43 ± 14.60 years and a mean disease duration of 16.47 ± 10.22 years: 32 patients (56.1%) had diffuse SSc. Fifty-four patients (94.7%) were positive for ANA, 17 (29.9%) for anti-centromere antibodies, and 27 (47.4%) for anti-SCL70 antibodies. Eleven patients (19.3%) were affected by SMet. Six patients (10.5%) were affected by type 2 diabetes mellitus, 29 (50.8%) by arterial hypertension, 21 (36.8%) by dyslipidemia, and eight (14%) by hyperuricemia. Two patients (3.5%) were obese, and 28 (49.1%) overweight. There was no statistically significant association between MetS and the demographic, clinical or laboratory variables of SSc, but there was a statistically significant association with cardiac arrhythmia (p=0.037).
Conclusions
Our findings show that 19.3% of the SSc patients were affected by MetS in the absence of any statistically significant association with the clinical or laboratory characteristics of the disease other than cardiac arrhythmia.