The Interplay between Cardiovascular Risk, Cardiovascular Events, and Disease Activity in Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome: Is Uric Acid the Missing Link?

Abstract

(1) Background: Uric acid is a well-known cardiovascular (CV) risk factor in the general population but its role in the setting of rheumatic diseases other than gout is unclear. (2) Methods: This is a retrospective study investigating a cohort of 105 pSS patients recording clinical, serological, and CV-related variables including adherence to the Mediterranean diet. (3) Results: We observed a strong relationship between disease activity, interstitial lung disease (ILD), and CV events. The association between ILD and CV events was dependent on higher SUA levels but independent of other traditional CV risk factors. All three cases of previous non-fatal stroke were reported by females aged <65 years, with higher SUA levels, and two of them also had pSS-ILD. Forty (38%) patients had a 10-year risk of fatal and non-fatal CV disease events beyond the cut-off recommended for their age, and using the correction factor of 1.5 currently applied only to rheumatoid arthritis, we could better identify patient subsets characterized by different CV risk profiles including different SUA levels. (4) Conclusions: This study is the first to investigate in depth the role of SUA in the CV scenario of pSS. Our findings underpin the importance of assessing SUA levels in pSS in addition to the other traditional CV risk factors and to consider applying the correction factor for CV risk assessment tools to achieve a better stratification of CV risk.