Rheumatology Medical News about rheumatoid atrthritis;Etanercept;inflammation-associated arterial stiffness

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Etanercept improves inflammation-associated arterial stiffness in rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatology, 09/09/09

Galarraga B et al. – Systemic inflammation (CRP) is an independent predictor of arterial stiffness and pulse wave reflection in patients with RA. ETAN but not MTX therapy reduces arterial stiffness and pulse wave reflection and may thus improve CV morbidity in RA.

Methods

148 RA patients with no previous history of CVD had their augmentation index corrected for a heart rate of 75 beats per minute (AIx@75), and parameters of RA disease activity and CV risk measured
Forty-seven patients were then treated with either MTX (n = 21) or etanercept (ETAN) (n = 26), and assessments were repeated at 2 and 4 months

Results

Patients with high CRP (>10 mg/l) showed significantly higher mean AIx@75 than those with low CRP (10 mg/l) (33 ± 8 vs 30 ± 8%; P = 0.033)
On regression analysis, log10 CRP (? = 0.298; P = 0.002), gender (? = 0.257; P = 0.007), BMI (? = –0.292; P = 0.004), diastolic blood pressure (? = 0.260; P = 0.009) and age (? = 0.194; P = 0.046) were independently associated with AIx@75
Treatment with ETAN (35 ± 9, 32.5 ± 1 and 32.5 ± 8%; P = 0.025) but not MTX (31 ± 1, 31 ± 1 and 31 ± 1%; P = 0.971) attenuated the AIx@75 significantly from baseline to visits 2 and 3

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