AB0216 Low mortality rate in italian rheumatoid arthritispatients from a tertiary centre. putative implication of a low anticarbamylated protein antibodies prevalence
Authors: D. Iacono, E. Favoino, A. Borgia, S. Fasano, I. Pantano, V. D’Abrosca, G. Picillo, F. Perosa, G. Valentini
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2018)

<h3>Background</h3> Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disorder associated with increased mortality, in particular from cardiovascular (CV) disease, infections and cancer. We recently demonstrate a incidence mortality rate (IMR) in 654 RA patients enrolled over a 6 year period in a South-Italian tertiary Rheumatology Centre lower than that reported in the Norfolk Arthritis Registry.<sup>1</sup> <h3>Objectives</h3> The present study is devoted to investigate differences in IMR between our series and other European tertiary centre cohorts. Furthermore we evaluated the role, if any, of Anticarbamylated protein antibodies (anti-CarP Ab) in modulating the low IMR detected in our patients. <h3>Methods</h3> Clinical charts of patients consecutively admitted to our centre, from January 1st, 2008 to December 31st, 2014 were reviewed. IMRs and causes of death as assessed at December 31st 2015, were registered. Sera collected at the time of admission to our centre in 61 patients representative of our RA cohort were investigated for the presence and the level of anti-CarP Ab. Demographic and clinical features, mortality rates and prevalence of anti-CarP Ab detected in our series were compared with those reported in the Better Anti-rheumatic Farmaco-therapy (BARFOT) cohort, the Leiden Early Arthritis Clinic cohort (Leiden EAC) and a Spanish cohort.<sup>2 3</sup> <h3>Results</h3> Six hundred and eight patients were observed for a median of 3.51 years. All causes and cause-specific IMRs were significantly lower in our cohort with respect to the BARFOT and the Spanish cohort, while only all causes and CV IMRs were significantly lower in our series with respect to the Leiden EAC. These discrepancies might depend on demographic and clinical differences among the various cohorts. Nevertheless, we failed to find putative differences with respect to each North European cohort, but we detected a significantly lower prevalence of anti-CarP Ab in our series with respect to that reported in the other European cohorts considered (table 1). <h3>Conclusions</h3> In conclusion, we confirm that the mortality rate in our South Italian RA cohort is lower than that detected in patients from both North and South European countries. We detected a very low prevalence of anti-CarP Ab in our sample representative of the entire cohort. Whether this is the aspect underpinning the low mortality rate detected in our series, awaits to be furtherly investigated. <h3>References</h3> [1] Iacono D, et al. Mortality in Italian patients with rheumatoid arthritis: evidence for a low mortality rate from cancer and infections in patients followed up at a tertiary center. Open Access Rheumatol2017. [2] Ajeganova S, et al. Anticitrullinated protein antibodies and rheumatoid factor are associated with increased mortality but with different causes of death in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a longitudinal study in three European cohorts. Ann Rheum Dis2016. [3] Vidal-Bralo L, et al. Anti-carbamylated protein autoantibodies associated with mortality in Spanish rheumatoid arthritis patients. PLoS One2017. <h3>Disclosure of Interest</h3> None declared