Volume : VIII, Issue : V, May - 2018

SYSTEMIC HYPERTENSION IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Jayachandran Nv, Shajit Sadanand, Sandhya Kurup K

Abstract :

Introduction:

There is a significantly higher cardiovascular mortality in Rheumatoid arthritis(RA) patients compared to general population. High prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension along with persistent chronic inflammation of vascular endothelium due to high disease activity is thought to be responsible for higher CVD–related morbidity in RA. Another contributing factor could be the widespread use of glucocorticoids, which increase carotid intimal thickening.There are only few studies among Asians on the prevalence of hypertension in RA.Here we describe the prevalence of hypertension in RA patients compared to general population and the effect of corticosteroids on their blood pressure.

Methods:

The study was conducted at a Government Medical College in North Kerala, India. RA Patients aged between 16 and 80 years who satisfied the ACR–EULAR 2010 criteria attending the Rheumatology clinic during a period of 1 year were studied in comparison with age and sex matched controls.

Results:

Thereis statistically significant difference (p value 0.003) in the prevalence of hypertension in the RA group (36%) and controls(14.7%).Corticosteroids did not contribute to the development of hypertension in RA patients in our study.

Conclusions:

This study highlights the need for control of hypertension in RA patients to improve CVD outcome.

Keywords :

Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijar  

Cite This Article:

Jayachandran NV, Shajit Sadanand, Sandhya Kurup K, SYSTEMIC HYPERTENSION IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH : Volume-8 | Issue-5 | May-2018

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