AORTIC STIFFNESS IS INCREASED IN NORMOTENSIVE PATIENTS WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS Abstracts from the 17th National Congress of the Italian Society of Cardiovascular Prevention (SIPREC), Naples, 21-23 March 2019

Introduction: Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular (CV) events. A marker of early vascular aging (EVA) is aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) which is a measure of arterial stiffness. Aim: To evaluate aPWV and the prevalence of EVA in a group of normotensive patients with SLE and to compare these values with those obtained in age- and gender-matched control subjects. Method: Aortic PWV was measured by a validated oscillometric device (Arteriograph). EVA was identified when the age-adjusted z-score of aPWV exceeded ? 1.96 (EVA1). The aPWV z-score was calculated using the ratio ‘‘Observed PWV–Predicted PWV/SD Predicted’’ and we obtained the predicted PWV values through regression equation. We adopted another definition of EVA (EVA2) wherein we included individuals with PWV values above the 90th percentile of aPWV distribution. Results: We enrolled 57 patients with SLE, aged 37.6 ± 11 years (9% men) and 29 healthy controls, aged 37.6 ± 9 years (10% men). Aortic PWV, aPWV z score, prevalence of EVA1 (12.3 vs 0%; p = 0.049) and EVA2 (19.3 vs 0%; p = 0.011) were significantly higher in SLE patients than in controls (Figure 1). The associations of aPWV and of aPWV z score with SLE were confirmed in multivariate models built in the overall study population, after adjustment for age, sex, BMI and mean blood pressure (both p.001). Conclusions: The impaired aortic distensibility we observed in patients with SLE may help to explain their increased CV risk.