Myocardial Performance Index to Assess Cardiac Function in Spondyloarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: This study aimed to assess cardiac function using the Myocardial Performance Index (MPI) in spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients.

Material and methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in databases including Medline, ProQuest, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Cochrane Library, focusing on studies relevant to SpA and MPI from 1995 to 2023. The Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS) was employed to assess study quality, and meta-analysis computations were conducted utilizing Review Manager 5.4.

Results: A total of 11 studies were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The spectrum of SpA covered in this review consisted of 1 study on undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (uSpA) and 10 studies on ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Various MPI assessment methods were utilized, including conventional echocardiography and tissue doppler imaging (TDI). In AS patients, both conventional MPI (cMPI) and tissue doppler MPI (tdMPI) values were significantly higher than those of healthy controls (MD= 0.05, 95% CI: 0.01-0.08, p-value=0.006 and MD=0.08, 95%CI: 0.06-0.10, p value<0.00001, respectively). In the uSpA study, there were no significant differences in MPI values between patients and controls with either cMPI or tdMPI.

Conclusion: Significant differences in MPI values were observed between AS patients and healthy controls using both cMPI and tdMPI, suggesting that MPI may serve as a useful tool for early detection and management of cardiac dysfunction in AS patients. Further studies were required to validate these findings.