Endothelium-dependent but not endothelium-independent flow-mediated dilation is significantly reduced in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus without vascular events: a metaanalysis and metaregression.

Journal Watch (General) 38(7):1296-303 (2011) PMID 21459950

To assess whether endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent flow-mediated dilation (FMD) are impaired in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with no history of vascular event; and to determine factors moderating impaired FMD in SLE. Electronic databases were searched for case-control studies that compared endothelium-dependent and/or endothelium-independent FMD at the brachial artery between SLE patients who were naive for vascular events and matched healthy controls. Effect size as standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals of FMD between SLE patients and controls was pooled using the inverse variance method. Mixed-model metaregression was performed to identify potential demographic and clinical factors associated with the effect size. Thirteen relevant studies involving 580 patients and 381 matched healthy controls were included. Endothelium-dependent FMD was significantly lower in SLE patients than in controls (SMD -0.832, 95% CI -1.172 to -0.492, p