Vascular stiffness is an independent risk factor of cardiovascular events in the general population. While it is established that vascular stiffness is increased in patients with systemic lupus (SLE), studies investigating vascular stiffness in patients with antiphospholipid antibodies yielded conflicting results. In order to determine whether arterial stiffness was increased in patients with antiphospholipid antibodies we studied 53 patients with antiphospholipid antibodies and 109 controls matched for age and sex.

Patients were : 46.0±2.3 years-old, 40 female and 13 male. Twenty-six had primary antiphospholipid syndrome, 16 antiphospholipid syndrome associated with SLE. Clinical manifestations included arterial thromboembolic events n=14, venous thromboembolism n=28, obstetrical manifestations of APS n=9 and 11 patients were asymptomatic. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) was used to investigate arterial stiffness and was determined by aplanation tonometry. PWV was increased in patients : 8.14 ± 0.40 m/s and 7.24 ± 0.20 m/s in controls (p=0.036). PWV was correlated with age (r=0.75;p=0.0001) and systolic blood pressure (r=O.62;p=0.0001). PWV was significantly increased in patients with arterial thrombosis than in controls (9.54±1.20 m/s and 7.23±0.20 m/s, respectively) or patients without arterial thrombosis (7.63±0.40 m/s;p=0.0416). PWV was not significantly different among various antiphospholipid profiles.

In summary patients with antiphospholipid syndrome have increased arterial stiffness, in particular patients with arterial thrombotic events. Arterial stiffness is significantly correlated with age and blood pressure but does not differ according to different antiphospholipid antibodies profiles.