Carotid intima-media thickness, lipid profile, serum amyloid A and vitamin D status in children with familial Mediterranean fever

Aim of the work: It was to estimate the carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), lipid profile, serum amy- loid A and vitamin D in Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) patients and to explore the relationship between CIMT and FMF. Patients and methods: The study comprised forty-five FMF patients diagnosed during the attack free per- iod and 40 healthy children with similar demographic features as control. The diagnosis of the FMF cases was confirmed by clinical, laboratory assessments and confirmed by the molecular diagnosis. The CIMT, lipid profile, complete blood picture, serum amyloid A (SAA) levels, vitamin D and the growth pattern were investigated. Results: The study showed no significant difference of CIMT among patients and controls, significant decrease of vitamin D levels, while lipid profile parameters, triglyceride (TG) to HDL-Cholesterol (HDL- C) ratio, serum amyloid A were significantly increased. A significant correlation was present between the CIMT with the serum cholesterol, low density lipoprotein and triglycerides as well as between SAA and the number of attacks. In addition, vitamin D levels showed significant negative correlation with col- chicine. M694I mutation was the most prevalent among FMF patients. Growth parameters were normal in FMF cases. Conclusion: This study sheds light that the normal CIMT in the FMF patients makes it difficult to describe the children as having subclinical atherosclerosis although the higher TG/HDL ratio reflects their risk of atherosclerosis. Moreover, significant decrease of vitamin D in FMF patients was observed. The growth parameters of the FMF patients on regular treatment of colchicine were not affected. (c) 2020 Egyptian Society of Rheumatic Diseases. Publishing services provided by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY -NC -ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).