ORIGINAL ARTICLE The frequency of metabolic syndrome in women with rheumatoid arthritis and in controls Marjaneh KARIMI, Saeideh MAZLOOMZADEH, Samira KAFAN and Hamidreza AMIRMOGHADAMI Zanjan Metabolic Disease Research Center, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran Abstract Aim: To compare the frequency of the metabolic syndrome and its components in a sample of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and controls. Methods: This case control study was performed on 188 women over 18 years old: 92 RA patients and 96 healthy controls, from 2006 to 2008. Blood pressure, height, weight and waist circumference were measured. Blood was collected for the measurement of fasting glucose, lipid profile and insulin. The frequency of the metabolic syndrome was determined in case and control groups, using both WHO and National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) criteria. Results: According to the NCEP criteria, the frequency of metabolic syndrome in RA patients and controls were 27.2% and 35.4%, respectively (P = 0.22). Based on WHO criteria, 19.6% of RA patients and 21.9% of the control group were subject to metabolic syndrome (P = 0.70). The proportion with hypertension was greater in RA patients than the control group. The duration of RA was significantly higher in patients with metabolic syndrome compared to those without metabolic syndrome using both the WHO and NCEP criteria. Conclusions: There was no evidence of a greater prevalence of metabolic syndrome in RA patients compared with controls in this study. The duration of RA was associated with metabolic syndrome, implicating the role of inflammation in metabolic syndrome development. Key words: cardiovascular risk factors, duration, metabolic syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis. INTRODUCTION Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at an increased risk of morbidity and mortality due to car- diovascular risk factors compared with the general population. 1,2 Many factors may contribute to increased cardiovascular risk, including classic risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, hypertension and obesity, and novel risk factors such as systemic inflam- mation, a prothrombotic state and hyperhomocyst- inemia. 3 Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of classic cardiovas- cular risk factors: hypertension, obesity, glucose intol- erance and dyslipidemia. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome varies between 20% and 30% in the adult populations of developed countries. 4,5 There are sev- eral definitions for metabolic syndrome, but two of the most commonly used are the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III), 6 and the modified World Health Organization (WHO) definitions. 7,8 The criteria for Correspondence: Dr Saeideh Mazloomzadeh, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Mahdavi Blvd., Zanjan, 4513956111, Iran. Email: smazloomzadeh@zums.ac.ir International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases 2011; 14: 248–254 ª 2011 The Authors International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases ª 2011 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd