ABSTRACT

Atherosclerosis and cardiovascular mortality was reported to be high in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Adipose tissue as an endocrine organ with adipocytokines play role in obesity, metabolic and cardiovascular disease. In this study, we aimed to show the relation between various clinical parameters and serum leptin, omentin, chemerin levels and insulin resistance in AS patients for cardiovascular risk assessment.

Forty eight AS patients and 24 healthy male controls were included. Body mass index (BMI) was noted and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), erithrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), IL-6, leptin, chemerin, omentin and insulin levels were analyzed. Disease activity was assessed with BASDAI and HOMA-IR was calculated for the evaluation of insulin resistance.

Age, sex, BMI, serum glucose, lipids, leptin, omentin, chemerin levels and insulin resistance were comparable between patients and controls (p>0.05). Leptin concentrations were higher in the anti-TNFa group compared to conventional therapy and negatively correlated with hsCRP (r=0.3, p<0.05;). Chemerin level was related with ESR, hsCRP and IL-6 (all for r=0.3, p<0.05, respectively).

Our study showed that adipocytokines and insulin resistance related to cardiovascular risk are not different in AS patients compared to healthy controls. This may be related to the low sensitivity of the analyzed parameters or the selection of our patient group.