High Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Patients With Psoriatic Arthritis From Northeastern Brazil Association With Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Biologic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs

Background Metabolic syndrome (MetS) causes morbidity in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA).Objective The aims of this cross-sectional study were to evaluate the prevalence of MetS in PsA patients compared with sex- and age-matched healthy controls and to test possible associations with clinical and laboratory variables.Methods The prevalence of MetS was determined for 76 PsA patients and 76 sex- and age-matched healthy controls, using the criteria of NCEP/ATPIII and Harmonizing, adjusted for South Americans. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent risk factors for MetS.Results Metabolic syndrome was significantly more prevalent in the PsA group than in the control group (53.9% vs 18.4%, p < 0.001). Psoriatic arthritis was associated with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, increased waist circumference (WC), elevated body mass index, and raised levels of blood glucose and triglycerides. When comparing MetS and non-Mets PsA patients, MetS was not significantly associated with disease activity, skin involvement, or quality of life. In the logistic regression model, the variables independently associated with MetS were use of biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (p = 0.001), elevated arterial pressure (p = 0.006), age (p = 0.0015), WC (p = 0.004), and low HDL (p = 0.042).Conclusions In this study on PsA patients from Northeastern Brazil, MetS was highly prevalent and associated with biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs use, increased WC, and low HDL.