Background: Cardiovascular (CV) disease, the most common cause of mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), is largely attributable to accelerated atherosclerosis. Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) has been approved as a surrogate marker of early atherosclerosis. Methods This study was a case control study. Study population included the already diagnosed RA patients attending rheumatology/medicine opd and healthy controls attending medicine opd of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar medical college and hospital, Rohini, New Delhi. Sample size was 80 (40 cases and 40 controls). All the subjects (cases and controls) who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were evaluated for CIMT by using ultrasound and CIMT value of cases were correlated with duration and activity of disease. Results: In our study, among 40 cases, 28 were female and 12 were male and among 40 control, 24 were female and 16 were male. Mean age of the cases was 45.60 years and mean age of control was 44.58 years. In our study, mean Rt CIMT was 0.601 among cases and 0.52 among controls. Mean Lt CIMT was 0.67 among cases and 0.58 among control. Out of 40 RA cases, 15% had <2 years of duration of symptoms (Group-1), 52.5% had 2-5 years of duration of symptoms (Group-2), 32.5% had >5 years of duration of symptoms (Group-3). Mean CIMT value was 0.46 for group-1, 0.66 for group-2 and 0.72 for group-3. BMI and duration of disease were found to be significant association with CIMT. Conclusion- Overall, CIMT is a good surrogate marker for RA atherosclerosis. The current study found a strong relationship between CIMT, the disease, and its duration and severity (DAS-28 score). Early diagnosis and preventive treatment of RA patients with a poor vascular profile can reduce cardiovascular mortality. Evaluate all RA patients for atherosclerosis.
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