Abstract
PURPOSE: To examine endothelial function in rheumatoid arthritis patients and to assess whether clinical or genetic factors affect the development of endothelial dysfunction. METHODS: Fifty-five patients fulfilling the 1987 American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for rheumatoid arthritis were recruited from Hospital Xeral-Calde, Lugo, Spain. Patients were required to have been treated for at least 5 years, including current treatment with one or more disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. Patients with diabetes mellitus, renal insufficiency, or cardiovascular disease were excluded. Thirty-one age-, sex-, and ethnically matched controls were also studied. Endothelium-dependent (postischemia) and -independent (postnitroglycerin) vasodilatation were measured by brachial ultrasonography. Patients were genotyped for human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DRB1. RESULTS: Patients had decreased endothelium-dependent vasodilatation (mean [± SD], 3.8% ± 4.9%) compared with controls (8.0% ± 4.5%; P
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 647-652 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | The American Journal of Medicine |
Volume | 114 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2003 |
Keywords
- Adult
- Aged
- Alleles
- Arthritis
- Arthritis,Rheumatoid
- classification
- Diabetes Mellitus
- Disease
- Endothelium,Vascular
- Female
- Genetic Predisposition to Disease
- genetics
- Genotype
- Histocompatibility Testing
- HLA-DR Antigens
- Human
- Male
- methods
- Middle Age
- physiopathology
- Rheumatology
- Risk
- Spain
- ultrasonography
- Vasodilation