Elevated levels of plasma symmetric dimethylarginine and increased arginase activity as potential indicators of cardiovascular comorbidity in rheumatoid arthritis

Table 4 Prevalence of hypertension and hyperlipidemia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in highest symmetric dimethylarginine quartile

SDMA Quartiles
	Quartile 1	Quartile 2	Quartile 3	Quartile 4	p Value
No. of patients	29	29	28	33
SDMA, μM/L	< 0.44	0.45–0.51	0.52–0.57	≥ 0.58
Demographics
Age, yr	52.8 ± 12.4	59.7 ± 15.4	62.5 ± 10.9	66.7 ± 11.2	< 0.001^a
BMI, kg/m²	29.24 ± 6.83	27.55 ± 4.79	28.55 ± 8.2	29.67 ± 5.38	0.592
Disease activity
Disease duration, yr	11.19 ± 9.91	13 ± 10.14	10.48 ± 7.05	11.96 ± 11.02	0.805
DAS28	3.47 (2.51–3.9)	2.06 (1.38–2.87)	2.42 (1.71–2.91)	2.76 (1.82–3.63)	0.117
CV burden and assessments, n (%)
History of diabetes,	5 (17.24%)	7 (24.14%)	3 (10.71%)	6 (18.18%)	0.621
History of hyperlipidemia	9 (31%)	17 (58.6%)	9 (32.1%)	21 (63.6%)	0.014^a
History of hypertension	13 (44.8%)	17 (58.6%)	15 (53.6%)	26 (78.8%)	0.039^a
Two or more CV risk factors	8 (27.6%)	14 (48.3%)	6 (21.4%)	18 (54.5%)	0.022^a
History of CVD	4 (13.8%)	2 (6.9%)	5 (17.9%)	6 (18.2%)	0.585
Smoking	14 (48.3%)	12 (41.4%)	11 (39.3%)	20 (60.6%)	0.330
Laboratory examination results
ESR, mm/h	14.5 (8.25–28.75)	11 (7–30)	10 (7–24)	21 (9–28.75)	0.944
CRP, mg/dl	0.6 (0.2–1.7)	0.3 (0.2–0.6)	0.4 (0.1–1)	0.6 (0.2–1.6)	0.678

Abbreviations: SDMA Symmetric dimethylarginine, BMI Body mass index, DAS28 Disease Activity Score in 28 joints, CV Cardiovascular, CVD Cardiovascular disease, ESR Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, CRP C-reactive protein
^a statistically significant

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