Apolipoprotein B as an independent predictor of arterial stiffness in systemic lupus erythematosus patients.

Aim: To determine the relationship of apolipoprotein B (Apo-B) and arterial stiffness determined by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) subjects.

Methods: Eighty-seven Thai SLE subjects with inactive disease activity were studied. Fasting blood was collected for creatinine, glucose, lipid profiles, Apo-B and Apo-A1. Pearson correlation and stepwise-linear regression were used for the analysis.

Results: The mean age of the subjects was 36.69 ± 10.85 years; 6.90% of them had stage 3 or more severe chronic kidney disease, 49.40% took anti-hypertensive drugs and 4.60% had abnormal glucose metabolism. The mean value for baPWV was 1332 ± 274.12 cm/s. Thirty-six percent of the subjects had increased arterial stiffness with mean Apo-B levels of 1.05 ± 0.31 g/L compared to 0.94 ± 0.24 in normal arterial stiffness. There were correlations of baPWV with age, systolic blood pressure (BP), diastolic BP and creatinine clearance. Apo-B tended to be associated with baPWV (P = 0.06) whereas low-density lipoprotein cholesterol did not (P = 0.2). By multiple regression analysis, systolic BP, age and Apo-B were the significant predictors of baPWV.

Conclusion: Apo-B was independently associated with arterial stiffness in SLE subjects.