الفهرس 
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Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic autoimmnne disease of unknown etiology. Cardiovascular disea’)e is a leading cause of mortality in rhewnatoid arthritis (RA).Endothelial dysfunction often precedes manifest atherosclerosis. Both traditional, risk factors and inflammation-associated factors are involved in RA-associated atherosclerosis. Among imaging techniques, the early determination of common carotid intima-media thickness (ccIMT), flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), and nitroglycerineemediated vasodilation (NMD) may be useful to determine atherosclerosis and endothelial dysfunction.We and others fonnd increased ccIMT and impaired FMD in RA patients. Among immnnological and metabolic laboratory markers, anticyclic citrullinated peptide (antiiCCP) antibodies, insulin resistance (lR) may be involved in the development of vascular disease in RA. The present study was performed to assess the prevalence of atherosclerosis in RA patient and to determine if it is associated with anti-CCP as immunological marker and insulin resistance as metabolic laboratory marker.We studies fifty six (56) RA patients compared to nineteen (19) age and sex matched healthy controls. The diagnosis was based on the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 1987 revised critela for the classification of rheumatoid arthritis.