Association between cardiac manifestations and antiphospholipid antibody type and level in a cohort of Serbian patients with primary and secondary antiphospholipid syndrome.

BACKGROUND Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS, also known as Hughes syndrome) may manifest itself as a primary or secondary disease, most commonly with systemic lupus erythemathosus (SLE) and various cardiac manifestations. OBJECTIVES To report the first results from the Serbian National Cohort study, which was started in January 2000. METHODS Our study included 374 patients: 260 primary APS patients and 114 SLE patients with secondary APS. Antiphospholipid antibody (aPL) analysis included detection of anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) (immunoglobulin G and M), beta2-glycoprotein 1, and lupus anticoagulant. Echocardiography was performed in all patients, and data on myocardial infarction, unstable angina, chronic cardiomyopathy and acute heart failure were collected. RESULTS There were 30.7% secondary APS patients and 9.2% primary APS patients with pseudo-infective endocarditis (P = 0.0001). Cardiac manifestations were observed in 28.7% of patients who had more than one type of antibody (category I), in 24.1% with category IIa, in 23.1% with category IIb, and in 27.8% with category IIc (P = 0.78). Age was confirmed as a significant factor for cardiac manifestations in APS patients (52.3 and 43.3 years, respectively, P = 0.001). aCL IgG and IgM positivity was related to valvular changes in all APS patients and high levels of those antibodies increased the risk of these manifestations. CONCLUSIONS Patients with secondary APS had a higher prevalence ofvalvular lesions, and some aPL types and high levels of aPL were risk factors for specific cardiac manifestations in APS patients.