Arterial hypertension assessed “out-of-office” in a contemporary cohort of rheumatoid arthritis patients free of cardiovascular disease is characterized by high prevalence, low awareness, poor control and increased vascular damage-associated “white coat” phenomenon

Table 3 Blood pressure phenotypic phenomena and vascular damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis ^a

Characteristics	SN (N= 97)	WCH (N= 37)	SH (N= 40)	P
BP
Office SBP (mmHg)	115.1 ± 9.2	142.9 ± 11.1	151.8 ± 16.6
Office DBP (mmHg)	70.9 ± 5.8	82.2 ± 7.0	86.2 ± 9.5
Out-of-office SBP (mmHg)	123.7 ± 9.5	121.6 ± 7.3	141.2 ± 8.3
Out-of-office DBP (mmHg)	77.6 ± 3.4	72.4 ± 68	83.1 ± 10.0
Vascular damage
L CCA CSA (mm²)	13.1 ± 3.0	14.5 ± 3.7	15.1 ± 3.2	0.002/0.251^b
R CCA CSA (mm²)	12.5 ± 2.8	14.0 ± 3.8	15.2 ± 2.7	<0.001/0.027^b
Presence of plaque (%)	49	59	72.5	0.044/0.354^b
PWV (m/s)	7.8 ± 1.7	8.9 ± 2.7	9.8 ± 2.7	<0.001/<0.001^c
L ABI (%)	1.23 ± 0.1	1.19 ± 0.9	1.21 ± 1.0	0.233
R ABI (%)	1.22 ± 0.1	1.14 ± 0.1	1.18 ± 0.1	0.002/<0.001^c
CV risk factors
Age, years	55.4 ± 12.7	59.7 ± 11.1	60.9 ± 10.8	0.026
Females (%)	86	84	70	0.067
DM (%)	6	5	5	0.923
Current smokers (%)				0.036
Current	38	16	25
Ex-smokers	14	19	30
Dyslipidemia (%)	18	24	30	0.328
BMI (kg/m²)	25.5 ± 4.8	28.1 ± 4.3	28.1 ± 5.7	0.003

^aABI, Ankle-Brachial Index; BMI, body mass index; BP, blood pressure; CCA, common carotid artery; CV, cardiovascular; CSA, cross-sectional surface area; DBP, diastolic blood pressure, DM, diabetes mellitus; L, left; R, right; SBP, systolic blood pressure; SH, sustained hypertension; SN, sustained normotension; WCH, white coat hypertension. ^bAdjusted for age, gender, BMI and smoking. ^cAdjusted for age, gender, BMI and smoking and for mean office BP. Data were analyzed by regression analysis, analysis of variance or analysis of covariance as appropriate. Data in the SN group are presented only for those patients who had high normal office BP and as a consequence were advised to measure out-of-office BP.

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