Inflammation and parasympathetic activity
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Inflammation and parasympathetic activity: a comparison between patients with rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes mellitus.
IRAS ID
169234
Contact name
Jet Veldhuijzen van Zanten
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
The cardiovascular risk profile of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and patients with diabetes are similar, with the exception of inflammation, which is higher in RA. Autonomic nervous system is divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic. These systems work in balance with each other, but when these systems are no longer in balance, autonomic dysfunction occurs. Autonomic dysfunction or impairment is recognized as increased activity of the sympathetic system and less activity of the parasympathetic system (Vinik et al., 2011) and this has been linked to increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality (Gerritsen et al., 2001; Vinik et al., 2013). Interestingly, levels of inflammation have been associated with the activity of parasympathetic system, which is part of the autonomic nervous system, in the general population (Jae et al., 2010), RA patients (Louthrenoo et al., 1999;Stojanovich et al., 2007;van Rensburg et al., 2012) and diabetes patients (Biondi-Zoccai et al., 2003;Lanza et al., 2007;Vinik et al., 2013). Therefore, comparing patients with RA with patients with diabetes provides an interesting human model for assessing the impact of inflammation on cardiovascular disease risk in these two populations. The main aim of the study is to investigate associations between inflammation and parasympathetic activation. The study will involve three different populations with different levels of inflammation; rheumatoid arthritis representing a population with high levels of systemic inflammation, diabetes representing moderate to mild levels of systemic inflammation, and an age-matched healthy population representing mild to low levels of inflammation. This study will take place at the research department in Russells Hall Hospital, part of the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, where the participants will be asked to perform several assessments including; blood analyses, arterial stiffness, Ewing's test battery, and treadmill exercise tolerance test. Participants will be asked to attend 2 visits separated by 7 days.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0138
Date of REC Opinion
31 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion