Subclinical carotid atherosclerosis in elderly patients with primary Sjögren syndrome: a duplex Doppler sonographic study

A growing body of evidence presents a link between chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases and atherosclerosis. To evaluate subclinical carotid atherosclerosis in an elderly group of patients with primary Sjogren syndrome compared with a control group matched for age, sex, ethnicity and cardiovascular risk factors, we enrolled 18 patients with Primary Sjogren Syndrome (mean age 65 +/- 5.93 SD) and 18 mild Ostheoarthritic patients (mean age 66 +/- 5.94 SD) from the outpatient department of Rheumatology, University "Campus Bio-Medico, Rome, Italy, matched for age, sex, ethnicity and cardiovascular risk factors. A duplex Doppler sonographic study of carotids was performed in order to evaluate intima-media thickness (IMT), stiffness and haemodynamic parameters [resistivity and pulsatility indices (RI and PI, respectively)]. No significant difference was found between primary Sjogren syndrome and control patients in IMT, stiffness and haemodynamic parameters. The lack of significant difference in subclinical atherosclerosis between elderly primary Sjogren syndrome and control matched patients, indicates that traditional cardiovascular risk factors, immunologic alterations and chronic inflammation do not influence the progression of vascular damage in the carotid circulation of patients with median disease duration of 6.5 years.