Association of Resting Heart Rate With Arterial Stiffness and Low-Grade Inflammation in Women With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Abstract

Resting heart rate (RHR) is associated with arterial stiffness, inflammation, and cardiovascular (CV) and all-cause mortality in the general population and in patients at high CV risk. We assessed the association of RHR with arterial stiffness and low-grade inflammation (LGI) in a cross-sectional study that included 101 women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) without a history of CV disease or arrhythmia or who were under treatment that may cause bradycardia. Pulse wave velocity (PWV; a measure of arterial stiffness), RHR, and markers of LGI (ie, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, insulin, and homeostatic model assessment index) were measured. The patients with the highest RHR (quartile 4; mean RHR = 87.2 bpm) had a PWV 0.61 m/s (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.08-1.14; P = .024) greater than patients with the lowest RHR (quartile 1; RHR = 63.0 bpm), independent of age, systolic blood pressure, disease activity, smoking, and being physically inactive. Similarly, patients with the highest RHR (quartile 4) showed a significantly less favorable clustered LGI index than patients in quartile 1 ( b = .58; 95% CI: 0.212-0.948; P = .002). Higher RHR is associated with greater arterial stiffness and LGI in women with SLE. Further research to determine the prognostic value of RHR in this population is warranted.

Effects of 12-week Aerobic Exercise on Arterial Stiffness, Inflammation, and Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Women with Systemic LUPUS Erythematosus: Non-Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Between-group baseline characteristics were compared with the Student t -test (when normally distributed) or Kruskal-Wallis test (when non-normally distributed) for continuous variables and the Chi-square test for categorical variables. The between-group differences in the studied outcomes were assessed through quantile regression with baseline values, resting heart rate (bpm) [39], and changes in physical activity (min/week; since the change in self-reported physical activity at week 12 was >60 min higher in the control compared to the exercise group and this change was associated with changes in PWV; r Pearson = −0.27, p = 0.048) as potential confounders, after checking baseline group comparisons. As we aimed at assessing efficacy, the primary analyses were defined as per-protocol, where patients from the exercise group were included if attendance at the exercise sessions was ≥75%.…”

Inflammation, Nitro-Oxidative Stress, Impaired Autophagy, and Insulin Resistance as a Mechanistic Convergence Between Arterial Stiffness and Alzheimer’s Disease

“…A growing body of evidence suggests that systemic inflammation is associated or precedes arterial stiffness ( Mahmud and Feely, 2005;Durham et al, 2018). Recently, it was reported that patients with chronic inflammatory diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and inflammatory bowel disease) present higher PWV values as compared to control subjects (Dregan, 2018;Vargas-Hitos et al, 2018). Moreover, at the level of the brain, systemic inflammation, marked by elevated circulatory proinflammatory cytokines, can shape a cerebral inflammatory milieu promoting neurodegeneration and AD ( Paouri and Georgopoulos, 2019;Walker et al, 2019).…”

Systemic Low-Grade Inflammation and Cardiovascular Disease in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

“…They also suggested that their study extends current knowledge on the association of RHR with arterial stiffness and SLGI in a population with SLE and at an increased risk of CV disease. 1 Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic autoimmune disease, and recent findings have further strengthened the critical role of SLE-related immune dysregulation and metabolic disturbances in promoting accelerated CV disease. [2][3] Moreover, RHR and markers of SLGI such as C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were shown to be associated with arterial stiffness and inflammation and these factors also strongly predispose to CV disease and all-cause mortality.…”

“…We read with interest the recent article entitled “Association of Resting Heart Rate With Arterial Stiffness and Low-Grade Inflammation in Women With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus” by Vargas-Hitos et al 1 In their prospective cross-sectional study, they reported that higher resting heart rate (RHR) is associated with higher arterial stiffness and systemic low-grade inflammation (SLGI) in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), independent of age, smoking, physical inactivity, systolic blood pressure, disease activity, and other cardiovascular (CV) disease risk factors. They also suggested that their study extends current knowledge on the association of RHR with arterial stiffness and SLGI in a population with SLE and at an increased risk of CV disease.…”

“…They also suggested that their study extends current knowledge on the association of RHR with arterial stiffness and SLGI in a population with SLE and at an increased risk of CV disease. 1…”