RESEARCH ARTICLE


Evaluation of Arteriosclerosis Using the Brachial-Ankle Pulse Wave Velocity in Patients with Visceral Lesion-Free Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Characterized by Skin Lesions



Kimiko Maruyama, Takaharu Ikeda, Katsunori Tanaka, Fukumi Furukawa*
Department of Dermatology, Wakayama Medical University, Postal Code: 641-0012, 811-1, Kimiidera, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan


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Creative Commons License
© Maruyama et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Dermatology, Wakayama Medical University, Postal Code: 641-0012, 811-1, Kimiidera, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. Tel: 81-73-441-0661; Fax: 81-73-448-1908; E-mail: dajs@wakayama-med.ac.jp


Abstract

Recently, the cardio-/cerebrovascular lesion-related mortality rate has been high in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In these patients, the risk of cardio-/cerebrovascular lesions is also higher than in the general population. Cardio-/cerebrovascular lesions may occur during long-term follow-up. In this study, we evaluated arteriosclerosis using the brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) in visceral lesion-free SLE patients with skin lesions. In these patients, baPWV was higher than in healthy adults even at a young age. This suggests that baPWV is a possible tool to evaluate the patient’s vascular function, which was difficult to evaluate using a conventional sera arteriosclerosis index. Even when conditions are characterized by skin lesions, it may be important to consider the influence on the cardio-/cerebrovascular systems, as indicated for patients with systemic symptoms.

Keywords: Arteriosclerosis, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, cutaneous lupus erythematosus, systemic lupus erythematosus.