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Anti-TNFα therapy may lead to blood pressure reductions through improved endothelium-dependent microvascular function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 25, pages 699–702 (2011)Cite this article

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Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that has a central role in the aetiopathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and may contribute to the development of hypertension. The present longitudinal study examined the effects of anti-TNFα treatment on blood pressure (BP) and vascular responses in patients with RA.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease, characterised by erosive symmetrical polyarthritis. It is the most common inflammatory arthritis, affecting ∼0.8% of the adult population. RA is also associated with increased morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease, which appears to be of equal frequency and severity in RA as in diabetes mellitus of similar duration.1 This could be partially attributed to an increased prevalence of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as hypertension, dyslipidaemia and obesity.2 In particular, the prevalence of hypertension in RA is high and its control is worse when compared with the general population.3

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Author notes

  1. A Sandoo and V F Panoulas: Both authors have equally contributed to this work and therefore share first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology, Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust, Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, UK

    A Sandoo, V F Panoulas, T E Toms, J P Smith, A Stavropoulos-Kalinoglou, G S Metsios, A Y Gasparyan, J J C S Veldhuijzen van Zanten & G D Kitas

  2. School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    A Sandoo, D Carroll & J J C S Veldhuijzen van Zanten

  3. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust, Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, UK

    J P Smith

  4. Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    G D Kitas

Authors
  1. A Sandoo
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  2. V F Panoulas
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  3. T E Toms
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  4. J P Smith
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  5. A Stavropoulos-Kalinoglou
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  6. G S Metsios
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  7. A Y Gasparyan
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  8. D Carroll
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  9. J J C S Veldhuijzen van Zanten
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  10. G D Kitas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A Sandoo.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Human Hypertension website

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Sandoo, A., Panoulas, V., Toms, T. et al. Anti-TNFα therapy may lead to blood pressure reductions through improved endothelium-dependent microvascular function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. J Hum Hypertens 25, 699–702 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2011.36

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