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Linde A, Gerdts E, Fevang BT, Eilertsen RK, Kringeland E, Alsing CL, Midtbø H. Factors associated with change in arterial stiffness in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: the JointHeart study. Blood Press 2024; 33:2353167. [PMID: 38824646 DOI: 10.1080/08037051.2024.2353167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) predominantly affects women and is associated with hypertension and arterial stiffness. We explored factors associated with change in arterial stiffness in patients with RA treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy. METHODS Seventy-seven outpatients with RA (age 55 ± 11, 69% women), with indication for treatment with biological or targeted synthetic DMARDs, were included. Pulse wave velocity (PWV), augmentation pressure (AP), augmentation index (AIx) and Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28) were measured at baseline and after a mean of 22 months of follow-up. RESULTS At follow-up, 83% used DMARDs and 73% had achieved remission or low disease activity. DAS28 decreased from 3.8 ± 1.3 to 2.8 ± 1.2 (p < 0.001). Mean PWV increased from 7.8 ± 1.6 m/s at baseline to 8.5 ± 1.8 m/s at follow-up (p < 0.001), while AP and AIx were stable. Increase in PWV during follow-up was associated with increase in systolic blood pressure (BP), diabetes, higher DAS28 and body mass index (BMI) at baseline, independent of achieved remission/low disease activity and use of DMARDs at follow-up. In multivariable analyses at follow-up, female sex was associated with higher AP and AIx, but with lower PWV, after adjusting for possible confounders. CONCLUSION In patients with RA, higher disease activity, BMI and diabetes at baseline, together with increase in office systolic BP were associated with an increase in arterial stiffness during follow-up, despite DMARD therapy. This highlights the need for management of cardiovascular risk factors in addition to reducing the inflammatory load in patients with RA to preserve arterial function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anja Linde
- Department of Clinical Science, Centre for Research on Cardiac Disease in Women, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Norwegian Research Centre for Women's Health, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Eva Gerdts
- Department of Clinical Science, Centre for Research on Cardiac Disease in Women, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Heart Disease, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Bjørg T Fevang
- Department of Rheumatology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Rune K Eilertsen
- Department of Clinical Science, Centre for Research on Cardiac Disease in Women, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Cardiology, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway
| | - Ester Kringeland
- Department of Clinical Science, Centre for Research on Cardiac Disease in Women, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Heart Disease, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Christian L Alsing
- Department of Heart Disease, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Internal Medicine, Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Helga Midtbø
- Department of Clinical Science, Centre for Research on Cardiac Disease in Women, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Heart Disease, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
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Luciano N, Barone E, Timilsina S, Gershwin ME, Selmi C. Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Inhibitors and Cardiovascular Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Clin Rev Allergy Immunol 2023; 65:403-419. [PMID: 38157095 DOI: 10.1007/s12016-023-08975-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by an increased risk of cardiovascular events, due to the complex interplay between traditional and disease-related risk factors. Chronic inflammation and persistent disease activity are the key determinants of this risk, but despite great improvement in the disease management and prognosis, cardiovascular events are still the main cause of morbidity and mortality in RA cohorts1. In the last decades, the advent of new biological and targeted-synthetic DMARDs was accompanied by an improvement in disease activity control, but the role of each class of drugs on CVD risk is still a matter a debate. Since their approval for RA treatment, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) inhibitors have been widely investigated to better understand their effects on cardiovascular outcomes. The hypothesis that the reduction of chronic inflammation with any treatment may reduce the cardiovascular risk has been recently confuted by the direct comparison of TNFα-inhibitors and JAK inhibitors in patients with RA and coexisting risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The aim of this literature review is to add to the available evidence to analyze the relationship between TNFα-inhibitors and CVD risk in patients with RA and also provide some clinical scenarios to better explain the treatment dilemmas. In particular, while data on major cardiovascular events and thromboembolism seem consistent with an inflammation-mediated benefit with TNFα-inhibitors, there remain concerns about the use of this class of bDMARDs in patients with chronic heart failure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicoletta Luciano
- Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Via Manzoni 56, 20089, Rozzano, Milan, Italy
| | - Elisa Barone
- Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Via Manzoni 56, 20089, Rozzano, Milan, Italy
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Pieve Emanuele, Milan, Italy
| | - Suraj Timilsina
- Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Clinical Immunology, University of California, Davis, USA
| | - M Eric Gershwin
- Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Clinical Immunology, University of California, Davis, USA
| | - Carlo Selmi
- Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Via Manzoni 56, 20089, Rozzano, Milan, Italy.
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Pieve Emanuele, Milan, Italy.
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Yang V, Kragstrup TW, McMaster C, Reid P, Singh N, Haysen SR, Robinson PC, Liew DFL. Managing Cardiovascular and Cancer Risk Associated with JAK Inhibitors. Drug Saf 2023; 46:1049-1071. [PMID: 37490213 PMCID: PMC10632271 DOI: 10.1007/s40264-023-01333-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023]
Abstract
Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKi) have enormous appeal as immune-modulating therapies across many chronic inflammatory diseases, but recently this promise has been overshadowed by questions regarding associated cardiovascular and cancer risk emerging from the ORAL Surveillance phase 3b/4 post-marketing requirement randomized controlled trial. In that study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis with existing cardiovascular risk, tofacitinib, the first JAKi registered for chronic inflammatory disease, failed to meet non-inferiority thresholds when compared with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors for both incident major adverse cardiovascular events and incident cancer. While this result was unexpected by many, subsequently published observational data have also supported this finding. Notably, however, such a risk has largely not yet been demonstrated in patients outside the specific clinical situation examined in the trial, even in the face of many studies examining this. Nevertheless, this signal has practically re-aligned approaches to both tofacitinib and other JAKi to varying extents, in other patient populations and contexts: within rheumatoid arthritis, but also in psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, atopic dermatitis, and beyond. Application to individual patients can be more challenging but remains important to harness the substantive potential of JAKi to the maximum extent safely possible. This review not only explores the evolution of the regulatory response to the signal, its informing data, biological plausibility, and its impact on guidelines, but also the many factors that clinicians must consider in navigating cardiovascular and cancer risk for their patients considering JAKi as immune-modulating therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor Yang
- Department of Rheumatology, Level 1, North Wing, Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Austin Health, 300 Waterdale Road, PO Box 5444, Heidelberg West, VIC, 3081, Australia
| | - Tue W Kragstrup
- Department of Rheumatology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Sector for Rheumatology, Diagnostic Center, Silkeborg Regional Hospital, Silkeborg, Denmark
| | - Christopher McMaster
- Department of Rheumatology, Level 1, North Wing, Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Austin Health, 300 Waterdale Road, PO Box 5444, Heidelberg West, VIC, 3081, Australia
- Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Centre for Digital Transformation of Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Pankti Reid
- Division of Rheumatology and Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Namrata Singh
- Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Stine R Haysen
- Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Philip C Robinson
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Metro North Hospital and Health Service, Herston, QLD, Australia
| | - David F L Liew
- Department of Rheumatology, Level 1, North Wing, Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Austin Health, 300 Waterdale Road, PO Box 5444, Heidelberg West, VIC, 3081, Australia.
- Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
- Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
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