Constant Genetic Marker TNFA C-863A is Associated with Atherosclerotic Lesion in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objectives: The aim of our study was to reveal significant factors, associated with carotid atherosclerotic plaque, using regression analyze. Patients and methods: The study groups comprised 212 rheumatoid arthritis inpatients at the rheumatology department. General examination, carotid ultrasonography, the genotyping by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of polymerase chain reaction-amplified fragments and general examination were performed for all patients. Descriptive statistics, Data are presented as median, 25/75 percentiles (Me [25 percentiles; 75 percentiles]). logistic regression with Wald statistics were used for data analysis. Results: The use of a multifactorial model made it possible to identify the main factors associated with the formation of atherosclerotic plaque in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: age ( B=0.123), arterial hypertension ( B=3.114), the fact of smoking ( B=2.167), and the body mass index ( B=-0.098), rheumatoid factor positivity ( B=1.674), carriage of the mutant TNF-863A allele ( B=1.388). Conclusions: Traditional cardiovascular factors (age, hypertension, smoking, body mass index) and non-traditional (RF-positivity), including immunogenetic (mutant TNFA-863A allele) factors associated with atherosclerotic lesions of carotid arteries were identified.