THU0117 Independent associations of disease characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors with left ventricular diastolic function in rheumatoid arthritis

Background: Heart failure contributes to the excess mortality experienced by patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (1). Impaired diastolic function represents a pre-clinical cardiac alteration which is highly predictive of cardiac events and often progresses to heart failure. Diastolic dysfunction is the most common cause of heart failure in patients with a preserved ejection fraction. Whereas RA is associated with an increased prevalence of impaired diastolic function (2,3), the pathophysiological mechanisms that mediate this comorbidity await further elucidation. Objectives: This study aimed to identify potential determinants of ventricular (LV) diastolic function in patients with RA. Methods: LV diastolic function was determined in 176 patients with RA; 9 patients had established cardiovascular disease. LV diastolic function was determined by echocardiography from the ratio of early-to-late transmitral blood flow velocity (E/A), the ratio of E to the mean of the lateral and septal wall myocardial tissue lengthening at the mitral annulus (e') (E/e'), and the lateral e'. Relationships of comprehensively evaluated traditional cardiovascular risk factors and RA characteristics with markers of LV diastolic function were determined in confounder adjusted multivariate regression models. Results: Disease duration (partial r=-0.23, p=0.00), rheumatoid factor status (partial r=-0.16, p=0.04) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (partial r=-0.16, p=0.04) were associated with lower logarithmically transformed (log) E/A. Upon further adjustment for left ventricular mass index or relative wall thickness, these relationships remained significant (p