Traditional cardiovascular risk factors and coronary artery calcification in adults with polymyositis and dermatomyositis: A Danish multicentre study

Objectives To determine the occurrence of traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and coronary artery calcification (CAC) in adults with polymyositis (PM) or dermatomyositis (DM) compared to healthy controls and to assess the association between CV risk factors, PM/DM and CAC score. Methods In a cross-sectional, observational study of 76 patients with PM/DM and of 48 gender- and age- matched healthy controls traditional CV risk factors were assessed. CAC was quantified by means of cardiac CT scan and expressed in Agatston units (U). The associations between CV risk factors, PM/DM and CAC were studied by multivariate analyses. Results Thirty-three percent of the patients were obese compared to 11% of the controls (P = 0.005). Hypertension and diabetes were more frequent in patients (71 % vs. 42%, P = 0.002 and 13% vs. 0%, P = 0.007) and patients had higher levels of triglycerides (P = 0.0009). High CAC score occurred more frequently in patients (20% vs. 4%, P = 0.04). In multivariate analysis of patients factors associated with CAC were age (P = 0.02) and smoking (P = 0.02). Conclusion In this study, traditional CV risk factors and severe CAC were commonly found in patients with PM/DM. However, severe CAC was not associated with PM/DM per se, but rather with age and smoking in these patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.