Comparative Study of Cardiovascular Risk and Metabolic Syndrome in male and female patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with an increased burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and metabolic syndrome (MetS), though sex-specific patterns remain underexplored. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare the prevalence of MetS and estimate the 10-year cardiovascular risk between male and female RA patients. A total of 300 RA patients (150 males, 150 females) were evaluated using harmonized MetS criteria and the SCORE-2 algorithm. Results showed that MetS was significantly more prevalent in females (56.0% vs. 36.7%, p < 0.001), characterized by higher rates of central obesity and low HDL-cholesterol. In contrast, males exhibited higher 10-year cardiovascular risk (7.4% vs. 5.1%, p < 0.001). However, the presence of MetS disproportionately elevated cardiovascular risk in females, nearly equalizing risk between sexes in the MetS subgroup. Multivariate analysis confirmed MetS as a stronger predictor of high cardiovascular risk in women. These findings highlight significant sex-based disparities in metabolic and cardiovascular profiles in RA, underscoring the need for sex-stratified risk assessment and targeted management strategies to mitigate cardiovascular morbidity.