Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with cardiovascular disease.1 There are conflicting data as to whether or not this increased risk of cardiovascular disease is already present before the clinical onset of RA.2 In active RA an unfavourable lipid profile is present and is associated with inflammation.3 Patients with arthralgia positive for rheumatoid factor (RF) and/or anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (aCCP) (seropositive) are at risk of developing RA and can be considered as patients with symptoms and systemic autoimmunity associated with RA without clinical arthritis.4 ,5 Considering the close relationship between inflammation and serum lipid levels, we investigated whether an unfavourable lipid profile was associated with the development of RA in patients with seropositive arthralgia.

Total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc), low-density …