Cardiovascular Effects of Biologic Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (DMARDs)

• Published in: Current vascular pharmacology Vol. 18; no. 5; p. 488
• Main Authors: Drakopoulou, Maria, Soulaidopoulos, Stergios, Oikonomou, George, Tousoulis, Dimitrios, Toutouzas, Konstantinos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United Arab Emirates 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Animals; Antirheumatic Agents - adverse effects; Antirheumatic Agents - therapeutic use; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - drug therapy; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - epidemiology; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - immunology; Biological Products - adverse effects; Biological Products - therapeutic use; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Cardiovascular Diseases - immunology; Cardiovascular Diseases - prevention & control; Heart Disease Risk Factors; Humans; Protective Factors; Risk Assessment; Treatment Outcome; atherosclerosis; Cardiovascular disease; tumor necrosis factor; rheumatoid arthritis; biologic disease-modifying agents
• ISSN: 1875-6212
• DOI: 10.2174/1570161118666200214115532

The risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease is increased among patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases and remains an underserved area of medical need. Although traditional risk factors for CV disease, such as hypertension, smoking, dyslipidemia and obesity contribute to endothelial dysfunction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), they are not enough on their own to explain the observed excess CV risk. Rather, systemic inflammation seems to play a pivotal role in both disease states. Considering the inflammatory process in autoimmune diseases, scientific interest has focused on recently introduced biologic disease-modifying agents (bDMARDS) such as inhibitors of Tumor Necrosis Factor- α (ΤΝF-α), Interleukins -1 (IL-1) and -6 (IL-6). Despite the widespread use of bDMARDS in RA and other chronic autoimmune inflammatory diseases, their precise impact on CV disease and outcome remains to be elucidated, while prospective randomized control trials assessing their impact on hard CV endpoints are scarce. In this review, we summarize current knowledge concerning the effect of bDMARDs on CV outcome and on the risk of developing CV disease in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases.