Cardiovascular risk management in antiphospholipid syndrome: trends over time and comparison with rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes mellitus.

Objective: Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is characterised by increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, related to thrombo-inflammatory and atherogenic mechanisms. We examined the achievement of traditional cardiovascular risk factor (CVRF) therapeutic goals in APS versus other high cardiovascular risk disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and diabetes mellitus (DM), and trends over time.

Methods: 122 patients with APS (74 primary APS, female 68%, mean age 44.

Carotid and femoral atherosclerosis in antiphospholipid syndrome: Equivalent risk with diabetes mellitus in a case-control study.

Background: Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) may carry a worse prognosis for vascular complications when co-existing with subclinical atherosclerosis; however, the association between the two conditions remains ambiguous.

Methods: We evaluated ultrasonographic markers of subclinical atherosclerosis in carotid and femoral arteries of 86 patients with thrombotic APS [43 primary APS (PAPS), 43 systemic lupus erythematosus-associated APS (SLE/APS)], 86 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and 86 healthy controls, individually matched for age and gender, and investigated their associations with traditional and disease-related factors in APS.

Results: Carotid plaques were found in 28% of PAPS, 23% of SLE/APS, and 30% of DM patients versus 9% of controls (p = 0.