Cardiovascular risk factors and arterial stiffness in patients with ulcerative colitis

Purpose: to assess cardiovascular risk factors and arterial stiffness in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) without clinical manifestations of cardiovascular diseases. Material and Methods. 76 patients with remission of UC, 40 patients with irritable bowel syndrome and 25 healthy volunteers of comparable age and gender were examined. The 10-year risk of fatal cardiovascular events (SCORE) was calculated. Daily monitoring of arterial stiffness, endothelium function together with its vasodilative, vasoconstrictive and adhesive functions were evaluated in all examinees. Results. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as hypercholesterolemia, obesity or hypertension were not typical for patients with UC. Risk SCORE was low in the majority of UC patients. Patients with UC were characterized by the increase of intima-media complex thickness, C-reactive protein level, and by the decrease of HDL cholesterol. UC patients demonstrated the increase of arterial rigidity and endothelial dysfunction which reflected in statistically significant decrease of endothelium-dependent vasodilation to 11.48%, and increase of plasma levels of endothelin-1, vascular adhesion molecules VCAM-1 and ICAM-1. Conclusion. UC patients need multidisciplinary approach to study their arterial rigidity and markers of endothelial dysfunction.