Background: There was demonstrated that rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were associated with arterial damage. However it is not well known which of diseases has bigger impact on measures of arterial stiffness.

Aim of the study: was to assess whether aortic augmentation index (AIx) is modified in middle age RA and SLE women and to evaluate which one of these diseases has a greater influence on the parameter.

Methods: We examined 63 RA (age 41.48±10.77 years) with high disease activity (DAS28 5.49±0.92), 31 SLE (age 37.23±9.09) with moderate disease activity (SLEDAI 18.74±8.25) and 72 controls (age 37.42±9.15) women. AIx was assessed non-invasively by applanation tonometry (Sphygmocor v.7.01, AtCor Medical).

Results: Using one-way ANOVA the overall difference of means of AIx between RA (24.71±11.52), SLE (20.81±12.29) and control groups (13.24±10.44); (p<0.001) was obtained. Post hoc tests revealed that AIx significantly differed between control group and each of disease groups (p=0.006 for SLE vs controls; p<0.001 for RA vs controls) however there was no difference between groups of SLE and RA (p=0.253). Adjustment for the other confounding factors, such as age, mean blood pressure, body mass index, fasting lipids and creatinine was made with a help of stepwise linear regression. However it did not change results. Variable indicating the presence of any of diseases was significant in the model for AIx (p<0.001).

Conclusions: RA and SLE are associated with increased arterial stiffness. The presence of both diseases contributes to increased augmentation index values and the damage of arterial wall.