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Subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

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Summary

Background

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system. Inflammation may create high susceptibility to subclinical atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to compare subclinical atherosclerosis and the role of inflammatory cytokines between the group of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and healthy controls matched for age and sex.

Methods

The study group consisted of 112 non-diabetic and non-hypertensive RRMS patients treated with disease modifying drugs (DMD) and the control group was composed of 51 healthy subjects. The common carotid artery (CCA) intima media thickness (IMT) was investigated. Serum levels of risk factors for atherosclerosis and inflammatory cytokines were also determined.

Results

The mean CCA IMT (0.572 ± 0.131 mm vs. 0.571 ± 0.114 mm) did not differ (p > 0.05) between patients and controls. The RRMS patients’ CCA IMT was significantly correlated with serum interleukin 6 (IL-6) (p = 0.027), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (p = 0.027), cystatin C (p < 0.0005), glucose (p = 0.031), cholesterol (p = 0.008), LDL (p = 0.021), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p = 0.001) and triglyceride (p = 0.018) level. We fitted generalized linear models in order to assess the relationship between CCA IMT and IL‑6 with adjustment for sex and age. The obtained results showed that adjusted for age (p < 0.001) and sex (p = 0.048) IL‑6 serum levels statistically significantly (p = 0.009) predict CCA IMT only in the RRMS group.

Conclusion

The findings of the present study suggest that when treated with DMD RRMS might not be an independent risk factor for early atherosclerosis presenting with arterial wall thickening; however, the results suggest a significant association of IL‑6 serum levels with CCA IMT only in the RRMS group.

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Acknowledgements

The study was funded by University Medical Centre Maribor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre Maribor, Ljubljanska 5, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Tomaž Omerzu MD, Jožef Magdič MD & Tanja Hojs Fabjan MD, PhD

  2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Taborska ulica 8, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Radovan Hojs MD, PhD, Uroš Potočnik PhD, Mario Gorenjak MBI, PhD & Tanja Hojs Fabjan MD, PhD

  3. Department of Nephrology, Clinic for Internal Medicine, University Medical Centre Maribor, Ljubljanska 5, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Radovan Hojs MD, PhD

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  1. Tomaž Omerzu MD
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Tomaž Omerzu, Jožef Magdič, Radovan Hojs, Uroš Potočnik, Mario Gorenjak and Tanja Hojs Fabjan. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Tomaž Omerzu and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomaž Omerzu MD.

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Conflict of interest

T. Omerzu, J. Magdič, R. Hojs, U. Potočnik, M. Gorenjak and T.H. Fabjan declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical standards

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Omerzu, T., Magdič, J., Hojs, R. et al. Subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Wien Klin Wochenschr 136, 40–47 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-021-01862-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-021-01862-7

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