Lipid abnormalities in black african subjects with rheumatoid arthritis: case study amongst a senegalese population.

This study aimed at determining the lipid profile amongst a population of Black Africans with rheumatoid arthritis. This was a prospective study on a cohort of 49 polyarthritis patients. Allof them were submitted to a biological test including lipid parameters. We noticed a high prevalence of dyslipidemia (63.3%) in polyarthritic patients. Dyslipidemia was correlated with advanced age and presence of hypertension. The increase in total cholesterol was predominant (53.06%) followed by the increase in LDL cholesterol (28.57%). The increase in total cholesterol was significantly correlated with age (p = 0.005 r = 0.395), PAS (p=0.005), PAD (p=0.005) and PAM (p=0.003). The decrease in HDL cholesterol was the least frequent (2.04%) with an average of 1.62 mmol L. The atherogenic risk was low CT/ HDL = 3.45 and LDL/ HDL = 1.86. No link was found between the age of the disease, inflammatory syndrome, treatment (corticosteroid therapy and immunotherapy) and lipid abnormalities. Dyslipidemia is common in Black Africanswith polyarthritis having a very high HDL cholesterol level, resulting in a low atherogenicity index.