Background:Oral glucocorticoids (GC) are frequently prescribed to patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), however GC use is associated with a number of potential side effects. Hypertension is cited as a possible side effect, but few studies have specifically investigated GC-associated hypertension in patients with RA with conflicting results.Objectives:The aim of this study was to determine whether GCs were associated with an increased risk of incident hypertension in a cohort of patients with RA.Methods:A retrospective cohort of patients with incident RA and no hypertension at RA diagnosis were identified from UK primary care electronic health records (Clinical Practice Research Datalink). GC prescriptions were used to determine time-varying GC use and dose, categorised as: no use, >0–4.9 mg/day, 5–7.4 mg/day, 7.5–14.9 mg/day, ≥15mg/day. A 3-month risk attribution model was used where patients continued to remain at risk for 3 months after the end of prescriptions. Hypertension was identified if a patient had either: 1) 2 consecutive systolic blood pressure (BP) measurements >140mmHg within a year, 2) 2 consecutive diastolic BP measurements >90mmHg within a year or 3) antihypertensive prescriptions on at least two occasions and a Read code for hypertension. Unadjusted and adjusted Cox proportional hazards (PH) regression models were fitted to determine if there was an association between GC use and hypertension. Models were adjusted for baseline age, gender, baseline body mass index, baseline ever smoking, time-varying synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug use, time-varying non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and baseline Charlson comorbidity index.Results:There were 17,760 patients with incident RA and no hypertension. The cohort had a mean age of 56.3 ± 12.7 years and were predominantly female (68%). 7,421 (42%) were prescribed GCs during follow-up. There were 6,243 cases of incident hypertension over 97547 person years (pyrs) of follow-up, giving an incident rate of 64.1 per 1000 pyrs. Of those 1321 cases were in those exposed to GCs and 4922 were in those unexposed, giving incident rates of 87.6 per 1000 pyrs and 59.7 per 1000 pyrs, respectively. The adjusted Cox PH model indicated that recent GC use was associated with a 17% increased hazard of hypertension (hazard ratio: 1.17 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.24)). When categorised by dose, the adjusted model indicated only doses above 7.5mg were significantly associated with hypertension (Table 1).Table 1.Unadjusted and adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression model resultsUnadjustedHR (95% CI)Age and gender adjustedHR (95% CI)Fully adjusted* HR (95% CI)Recent GC use1.44(1.35 to 1.53)1.23(1.16 to 1.31)1.17(1.10 to 1.24)Recent GC doseNo GC useReferenceReferenceReference>0 – 4.9mg1.35(1.21 to 1.53)1.13(1.01 to 1.28)1.10(0.98 to 1.24)5mg – 7.4mg1.40(1.22 to 1.60)1.11(0.97 to 1.27)1.07(0.93 to 1.23)7.5mg – 14.9mg1.44(1.33 to 1.57)1.26(1.16 to 1.38)1.18(1.08 to 1.29)15mg and over1.60(1.40 to 1.84)1.45(1.27 to 1.66)1.36(1.18 to 1.56)* Adjusted for: Baseline age, gender, baseline body mass index, baseline ever smoking, synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug use (time-varying), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use (time-varying) and baseline Charlson comorbidity index.Conclusion:In this large cohort of patients with RA and without hypertension, recent GC use was associated with incident hypertension. In particular doses ≥7.5mg were associated with hypertension while the association with lower doses was inconclusive. Clinicians need to consider cardiovascular risk when prescribing GCs and ensure BP is regularly monitored.Disclosure of Interests:Ruth E Costello: None declared, Belay Birlie Yimer: None declared, Meghna Jani Speakers bureau: Grifols, William Dixon Consultant of: Bayer and Google
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