Rheumatoid Arthritis and heart disease risk factors and ultrasound findings

rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that affects both joints (with the related articular damage) and organs like lungs and heart. The cardiovascular risk in patients with RA is the same of the diabetic ones. The evaluation of lipid dismetabolism and heart ultrasonography are essential in order to achieve a global risk evaluation. in a selected cohort of patients (EPIDAURO study) a Tissue Doppler evaluation was done in order to clear which are the alterations of sistolic function of left ventricule and their association with rheumatoid arthritis