Objective: to detect early atherosclerotic changes in SLE
patients and to evaluate its relation to traditional
cardiovascular risk factors and lupus-related factors.
Subjects & Methods: Forty female SLE patients were
included in this study. Their age ranged from 20 to 63 years. All
of them were subjected to full history taking, thorough clinical
examination, laboratory investigations, disease activity
assessment using SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDA1) and
assessment of SLE-related disease damage according to the
Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC)
damage index. Intitna-media thickness (IMT) and carotid
plagues were measured with carotid B-mode ultrasound. Risk
factors associated with carotid plaques and IMT were
determined. Tltey included traditional cardiovascular \ risk
factors, SLE-related disease factors and inflammation markers.
Results: Eighteen^ patients out of the \4O (45%) had
plaques. Those patients Hjere statistically significantly (p<0.05)
older and had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure,
greater body mass index, higher levels of total cholesterol, lowdensity
lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, fibrinogen and C-reactive
protein (CRP) than patients without plaques. The patients with
plaques had a statistically significant (p<0.05) longer disease
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