A new study has found that people with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a high chance of developing high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.
The research was done by Brook Hadwen and colleagues at the University of Western Ontario in Canada and was published in the journal Rheumatology: Advances in Practice.
The study looked at health data from more than 2,000 patients in the Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort. When the study began, about 26% of these patients already had high blood pressure. This included 23% of the women and 34% of the men.
The researchers noticed that certain people were more likely to have high blood pressure at the start. These included those who were older, had diabetes, or had high cholesterol. For women in the study, being overweight or drinking a lot of alcohol also increased their chances of having high blood pressure.
The study followed participants for about five years. During that time, nearly one in four people who didn’t have high blood pressure at the beginning ended up developing it. This shows that the risk of getting high blood pressure is very real for people with early RA.
The researchers found that factors like age, weight, cholesterol levels, and alcohol use were clearly linked to the risk of high blood pressure. However, they did not find any strong link between RA-specific factors—such as disease severity or the treatments used—and the development of high blood pressure.
The study’s authors stressed that lifestyle changes could make a big difference. Losing weight, eating a healthier diet, exercising more often, and cutting back on alcohol can all help lower the risk of developing high blood pressure. These changes can also help prevent serious heart problems in people with early RA.
While the study mentioned that some of the authors had ties to the pharmaceutical industry, the results still offer an important message: people with early RA need to keep a close eye on risk factors like weight and cholesterol to help protect their heart health.
Other recent studies have also looked at ways to improve blood pressure naturally. Some have shown that eating earlier in the day—known as early time-restricted eating—might help lower blood pressure. Others suggest that switching from regular sugar to natural coconut sugar may help reduce blood pressure and make arteries less stiff.
Additional research has also found links between eating too much added sugar and higher blood pressure. There’s even evidence that vitamin D could improve blood pressure in people with diabetes.
All of these studies point to one clear message: managing your health through diet and lifestyle choices can play a major role in preventing high blood pressure, especially if you have other health issues like RA.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies that widely used blood pressure drug may increase eye disease risk and common blood pressure drugs linked to cognitive decline.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about why checking blood pressure while lying down is very important and lowering top blood pressure number to less than 120 mm Hg effectively prevents heart disease.
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