Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess a relationship between the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its selected clinical parameters, and left ventricular myocardial strain.
Material and methods: Fifty-six subjects were qualified for the study: 30 RA patients and 26 subjects without rheumatoid diseases. The study design included taking medical history, assessment of the disease activity using selected scales of activity, collecting samples of venous blood to assess selected laboratory parameters and the assessment of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). Using the feature tracking method, the following parameters of the left ventricular myocardial strain were assessed: longitudinal strain (LS), radial strain (RS) and circumferential strain (CS).
Results: Regarding global values, peak LS and peak CS were statistically significantly lower in RA patients than in the control group. In the whole study group, the factors independently related to low global LS peaks were as follows: occurrence of RA, occurrence of arterial hypertension, increased activity of antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptide and increased concentration of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin. The occurrence of RA, occurrence of diabetes, tobacco smoking, higher activity of antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptide and current use of methotrexate are the risk factors for low peak of global CS. The current use of steroids constitutes a protecting factor against low global CS peaks.
Conclusion: In subjects with no clinically manifested cardiac damage, RA is associated with a deteriorated left ventricular systolic function assessed by left ventricular myocardial strain measured by CMR feature tracking.
Keywords: Cardiac magnetic resonance; Left ventricular myocardial strain; Rheumatoid arthritis.