POS1390 COMPARISON OF CAROTID SUBCLINICAL ATHEROSCLEROSIS AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE IN AXIAL SPONDYLITIS WITH AND WITHOUT CONCOMITANT ANTERIOR UVEITIS. A MULTICENTER STUDY WITH 886 PATIENTS
Authors: I. González-Mazón, J. Rueda-Gotor, I. Ferraz-Amaro, L. Sanchez-Bilbao, F. Genre, V. Calvo-Río, S. Remuzgo-Martínez, V. Pulito-Cueto, A. Corrales, L. Lera-Gómez, V. Portilla, V. Hernández-Hernández, J. C. Quevedo-Abeledo, C. Rodríguez-Lozano, C. López-Medina, M. L. Ladehesa Pineda, S. Castañeda, E. F. Vicente-Rabaneda, C. Fernández-Carballido, M. P. Martínez-Vidal, D. Castro-Corredor, J. Anino-Fernández, D. Peiteado, M. L. García Vivar, E. Galindez, E. Montes Pérez, R. Demetrio-Pablo, C. Fernández-Díaz, R. Blanco, M. A. González-Gay
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2021)

Background: Anterior uveitis (AU) is one of the most frequent extra articular manifestations of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), present in around 25% of patients. As with axSpA, AU has also been associated with the development of accelerated atherosclerosis 1 . If the presence of AU confers an increased cardiovascular (CV) risk or specific disease-related features to patients with axSpA remains unclear. Objectives: To compare the atherosclerotic burden, CV events, CV risk factors and disease related factors including structural damage in axSpA patients with and without AU. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of the AtheSpAin cohort, a Spanish multicenter cohort designed for the study of atherosclerosis in axSpA, comparing axSpA patients with and without concomitant uveitis. Background information on CV and disease-related factors was reviewed. Data on CV risk and disease status at the time of the study were also obtained, including the structural damage assessed by the presence of syndesmophytes, the severity of the sacroiliitis (defined as grade 3 or 4 according to New York criteria), and the modified Stoke Ankylosing Spondylitis Spinal Score (mSASSS). Carotid ultrasound (US) was performed in all patients at the time of the study, including measurement of carotid intima-media wall thickness (cIMT) and plaque detection according to the Mannhein consensus criteria. Results: A set of 886 axSpA patients were included. 709 (80.0%) of them had no history of concomitant AU, which was present in the remaining 177 (20.0%). The group with AU was older (50 ± 11 vs 48 ± 13 years, p=0.05), had a higher proportion of patients with AS (90.1% vs 76.3%, p=0.00) (Table 1) and a longer disease duration 13(7-23) vs 7(2-16) years, p=0.00]. The prevalence of HLA-B27 was higher in AU patients (82% vs 67%). Remarkably, structural damage showed interesting differences between both groups (Table 1). AU patients had a higher prevalence of severe sacroiliits (69% vs 49%, p=0.00), which remained significant after adjustment for age, disease duration and AS/nr-axSpA ratio. Furthermore, a non-significant trend towards a higher prevalence of syndesmophytes (44% vs 36%, p=0.06) and hip involvement (20% vs 15%, p=0.09) was observed in the group of AU. Regarding CV risk features, no differences were observed in the prevalence of CV risk factors and events (Table 1). Patients with AU showed a higher cIMT in the crude analysis (665 ± 156 mm vs 640 ± 142 mm, p = 0.047), but no significant differences were observed after adjustment by age and sex (p=0.6). Prevalence of carotid plaques was comparable in both groups (32% Vs 32%, p=0.84). Table 1. axSpA without uveitis (n=709 ) axSpA with uveitis (n=177 ) p P (adjusted model ) Men/Women, n 477/232 122/55 0.68 Mean age (years) ±SD at the time of study 48 ± 13 50 ± 11 0.049 AS/nr-AxSpa 541/168 160/17 0.000 History of CV risk factors, n (% ) Current smoker 247 (35) 50 (28) 0.096 Obesitty Dyslipemia 233 (33) 63 (36) 0.48 Hypertension 188 (27) 50 (28) 0.63 Diabetes Mellitus 50 (7) 14 (8) 0.69 Chronic Kidney Disease 18 (3) 4 (2) 0.99 History of cardiovascular events, n (% ) 29 (4) 12 (7) 0.13 Structural damage at the time of study Presence of syndesmophytes, n (%) 253 (36) 77 (44) 0.063 mSASSS 5 (1-15) 6 (0-16) 0.31 Severe sacroiliitis (grade 3,4), n (%) 348 (49) 122 (69) 0.000 0.000* Carotid US data at the time of study Carotid plaques, n (%) 225 (32) 57 (32) 0.84 IMT (mm) 640 ± 142 665 ± 156 0.047 0.6** IMT &gt;= 0.900 mm 36 (5) 10 (6) 0.72 *: adjusted by age, disease duration and AS/nr-axSpA ratio **: adjusted by age and sex Abbreviations: AS = ankylosing spondylitis. AxSpA= axial spondylitis. CV = cardiovascular. IMT = intima-media wall thickness. Nr-axSpA = no-radiographic axial spondylitis. Conclusion: The presence of AU does not confer additional CV risk to axSpA patients, although it is associated with a more severe structural damage in our series. References: [1]Conkar S, Güven Yilmaz S, Koska İÖ, Berdeli A, Mir S. Evaluation of development of subclinical atherosclerosis in children with uveitis. Clin Rheumatol. 2018 May;37(5):1305-1308. Disclosure of Interests: None declared