CRP and rheumatoid arthritis: However, we cannot exclude that systemic inflammation plays a role in the development of hypertension in RA, because (1) RA inflammation fluctuates, and this cross-sectional marker may not capture the long-term cumulative inflammatory burden, and (2) the studied population was well-controlled with conventional and biologic drugs, which affect C-reactive protein, endothelial function, arterial stiffness and BP levels[14,20,21].