Importantly also, whereas consistent disparities in the associations of cardiovascular risk factors including CRP concentrations, blood pressure, lipid levels, obesity and metabolic syndrome with cardiovascular disease in black compared to white African patients with RA were recently identified by us [27–29], ethnicity did not impact the IL-6-endothelial activation relationship in the present investigation. This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.