FRI0576 PULSE WAVE VELOCITY EVALUATING ARTERIAL STIFFNESS IN FAMILIAL MEDITERRANEAN FEVER
Authors: Vassiliki Sgouropoulou, Stella Stabouli, Maria Trachana
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2019)

<h3>Background</h3> Chronic inflammation leads to atherosclerosis, resulting in increased arterial stiffness. Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) patients, experiencing recurrent inflammatory process during the attacks, are at increased risk for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Carotid-femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (cf-PWV) is considered the gold standard for arterial stiffness evaluation. There are few studies investigating arterial stiffness with the use of PWV only in adult patients with FMF, but none in children. <h3>Objectives</h3> In the present study we aimed to investigate indices of arterial stiffness, cf-PWV and aortic augmentation index (AIx75), measured with the SphygmoCor XCEL device, in patient with FMF -mostly of childhood- and their associations with disease-related factors and colchicine treatment. <h3>Methods</h3> A total of 85 individuals were enrolled in the study, 43 FMF patients, including 30 children, in attack free period, attending the outpatient clinic of a paediatric rheumatology referral center in Northern Greece, between September 2015 and June 2018 and 42 healthy controls. <h3>Results</h3> Patients with FMF presented similar systolic Blood Pressure (sBP), central Systolic Pressure (cSP) and cf-PWV values to controls, but significantly higher AIx75 values (patients vs. controls, 19.76% and 9.96%, p&lt;0.05). Only one FMF patient had cf-PWV &gt; 95<sup>th</sup> percentile. Statistical analysis in FMF patients showed that AIx75 adjusted for age and sew associated with complete response compared to partial response to treatment (B=-17.78 95% CI -31.17-(-4.40), P&lt;0.05) and the presence of M694V.M680I genotype (B=-16.75 95% CI -33.81 -0.30, P=0.05). Cf-PWV presented an inverse relationship with colchicine treatment duration (B=-0.003, 95% CI (-0.006)-0.00, P&lt;0.05). Cf-PWV values adjusted for age and sBP associated with attacks frequency (for &lt;2 months vs. &gt; 2 months, B= 0.48 95%CI 0.01-0.96, P&lt;0.05). Addition of colchicine treatment duration to the model, attenuated the association between cf-PWV and attack frequency, supporting the protective role of colchicine. <h3>Conclusion</h3> The normal values of cf-PWV in FMF patients may reflect the compliance to colchicine treatment, that seems to have a protective role against vessel inflammation. However, the increased values of AIx75 need further investigation. <h3>References</h3> [1] Mustafa Cakar, Muharrem Akhan, Tolga Dogan, Gurhan Taskin, Kadir Ozturk, Muhammet Cinar, Erol Arslan, Sedan Yilmaz, Investigation of the arterial stiffness and associated factors in patients with familial Mediterranean fever, Anatol. J Cardiol2017; 17:132-8 [2] O. Kukuy, a. Livneh, L. Mendel, A. Benor, E. Giat, O. Perski, O. Feld, Y. Kassel, I. Ben-Zvi, M. Lidar, E. J. Holtzman, A. Leiba, Normal arterial stiffness in familial Mediterranean fever. Evidence for a possible cardiovascular protective role of Colchicine, Clin Exp Rheumatol2017; 35 (Suppl. 108): S32-S37 <h3>Disclosure of Interests</h3> None declared