Main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases

Relationship

References

Traditional

Smoking

Worse prognoses and disease severity.

[2] [6] [20] [51] [52]

Obesity

Relation to dyslipidemia.

Controversial: protective effect, deleterious effect on the disease’s severity.

Sedentary behavior

Correlates to the impairment of microvascular endothelium-dependent vasodilation.

Hypertension

Insulin resistance

Chronic use of glucocorticoids.

Metabolic syndrome

Chronic use of glucocorticoids.

Dyslipidemia

Chronic use of glucocorticoids.

Non-traditional

Disease’ activity

Immunity deregulation occurs due to disease activity, including the synergic effect of cytokines, chemokines, adipokines, proteases, autoantibodies, adhesion receptors, oxidative stress and a plethora of intracellular signaling moleculesa.

[53] [54] [55] [56]

Autoantibodies

Antiphospholipid antibodies, anti-oxidized palmitoyl-arachidonyl-phosphocholine, antibodies to 65 and 70 kDa heat shock proteins (anti-hsp65 and -hsp70), anti-HDL, anti-apolipoprotein A-I and anti-lipoprotein lipase. The release of high numbers of these autoantibodies may increase oxidative stress, leading to endothelial cell damage and apoptosis and helping accelerate the atherosclerotic process.

Cytokines

Pro-inflammatory mechanism involved is increased by C-reactive protein, adipocytokines and proteases.