Hypertension is associated with serologically active disease in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: role of increased Th1/Th2 ratio and oxidative stress.

Objectives: To determine whether disease activity verified by laboratorial parameters is associated with a higher frequency of hypertension in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) without renal impairment and to investigate factors that could influence this hypertension.Method: This study included 102 controls, 70 patients with inactive SLE, and 53 patients with active SLE without renal impairment. We evaluated T helper type 1 (Th1)/Th2 lineage cytokines, nitric oxide (NO), insulin resistance (IR), and oxidative stress.Results: Patients with active SLE had a higher probability of developing hypertension compared to controls [odds ratio (OR) 3.833, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.806–8.137, p < 0.0003] and patients with inactive SLE (OR 2.215, 95% CI 1.032–4.752, p = 0.0394). Active SLE patients had a higher interleukin (IL)-12/IL-4 ratio (p < 0.05) than both controls and inactive SLE patients. Protein oxidation was significantly higher in patients with active SLE than in the control group and i...