Increased blood pressure after leflunomide? This question must be taken seriously!

Leflunomide tablets belong to the anti-rheumatic drugs to improve the condition, currently used clinically for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis or lupus nephritis in adults, and have been used clinically in China for nearly 20 years, alleviating the pain of many rheumatology patients, the effect is certain, and it is convenient
to take.

In the process of treating rheumatoid arthritis, leflunomide tablets have a definite efficacy and good safety, can significantly improve the patient's joint function and activity, and can effectively prevent the differentiation of osteoclasts, while inhibiting the destruction of bone and joints, and achieve the role
of protecting joints 。 But some patients find that their blood pressure has increased after taking it for a period of time.
In fact, leflunomide may cause increased blood pressure, which is clearly mentioned in the drug insert, but because many patients do not monitor blood pressure daily, and because the symptoms of hypertension are not very obvious in physical performance, everyone does not pay much attention
to the problem of blood pressure rise caused by it.
However, with the increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in rheumatic patients, more and more patients began to pay attention to the stability of blood pressure, and also began to understand such characteristics
of leflunomide.
So let's talk briefly today about how to correctly deal with the problem of increased blood pressure caused by leflunomide
.

Hypertension is a common and frequent condition
.
The disease generally has a slow onset, often asymptomatic in the early stage, or only dizziness, headache, palpitations, tinnitus and other symptoms, on the surface is an independent disease, in fact, it is an important risk factor for heart, cerebrovascular and nephropathy, if not properly treated, it will become a more serious stroke, myocardial infarction and renal failure and other common hypertension complications, seriously affecting health and even life
.

1.
The time for blood pressure to increase is 1 week to 1 year after taking the drug, mostly within
half a year.

2.
Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure have increased
significantly.

3
.
Most patients have elevated blood pressure, but no dizziness, headache and other discomfort.

4.
Most patients have no effective oral antihypertensive drugs, and their blood pressure can gradually drop to normal
after stopping taking leflunomide.

1.
Before and after taking leflunomide, be sure to closely monitor blood pressure changes
.

2.
After the blood pressure increases, take leflunomide to reduce the dose (need to consult a doctor).

3.
If there is a history of hypertension, other antihypertensive drugs can be added on the basis of the original antihypertensive drugs
.

4.
Adjust the drug in time, and use other immune preparations such as methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine sulfate and so on
.

In the absence of a history of hypertension, high blood pressure despite stopping leflunomide or switching to other drugs may be the cause
of rheumatism itself.

Greek scholars have found that comorbid hypertension is very common in patients with rheumatic diseases, with a prevalence of hypertension of 54.
5% in 622 patients, among which osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis have the highest prevalence of hypertension, 69.
6%, 60.
9% and 57.
8%,
respectively.

Among hypertensive patients, 21.
7 percent were unaware of their high blood pressure levels and 67.
2 percent received treatment
.
Only 48.
6% of hypertensive patients met the 2018 ESC/ETH treatment target
.

Therefore, if there is an increase in blood pressure, it is necessary to consider a variety of factors and adjust the medication treatment plan
under the advice of the doctor.