Editorial: Corticosteroids and endothelial dysfunction ||FREE PAPER||

Reza Tabrizchi

Division of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John’s, NL, Canada

Assessment of endothelial-mediated relaxation in situ is rapidly becoming the standard gauge of individual susceptibility to future cardiovascular dysfunction (Hadi et al 2005). In this issue of Vascular Health and Risk Management, Turner and colleagues (2005), in a pilot investigation, have proposed the concept that endothelial dysfunction in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, but with no known cardiovascular disease, is the result of exposure to corticosteroids. Even though the study by Turner and colleagues (2005) has a small sample size and may not have the desired power to conclusively indicate the relationship between endothelial dysfunction and corticosteroids use, it is worth considering the possible basis for such an association.