Asymptomatic Atherosclerosis in Egyptian Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients and Its Relation to Disease Activity

Table 13

Comparison of parameters which assess the endothelial function in RA patients who use steroids and RA patients who do not use steroids.

	RA patients who use steroids; ( = 58)	RA patients who do not use steroids; ( = 54)
	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD
Pre-FMD (average)	3.67 ± 0.56	3.73 ± 0.45	0.6
Post-FMD (average)	4.33 ± 0.61	4.3 ± 0.6	0.86
FMD dilatation %	18.31 ± 7.78	15.86 ± 7.93	0.2
Pre-GTN (average)	3.7 ± 0.59	3.75 ± 0.47	0.6
Post-GTN (average)	4.63 ± 0.74	4.6 ± 0.7	0.95
GTN dilatation %	26.03 ± 8.01	23.19 ± 10.3	0.3
Dilatation ratio	0.7 ± 0.26	0.72 ± 0.26	0.8

FMD = flow mediated dilatation, GTN = glyceryl trinitrate.