Table 6.

The cardioprotective and anti-hypertensive effects of CQ and HCQ in human studies

Study population	Treatment, dose and duration	Research outcomes	Mechanism of action	Reference
Patients with MetS (n=25; aged 18-60 years)	Placebo (3 weeks) → CQ (80 mg/week, 3 weeks) → CQ (80 mg/day, 3 weeks) → CQ (250 mg/day, 3 weeks)	BP: ↔	TNF-α: ↓, CRP: ↔, leptin: ↔, adiponectin: ↔	45
Patients with MetS (n=56; aged 18-70 years)	CQ (80 mg/day, 1 year)	DBP: ↓, MAP: ↓	p-JNK: ↓
Patients with prevalent rheumatoid arthritis (n=7,147; aged 63 years)	HCQ (dose not mentioned) - 6 months	SBP: ↓, DBP: ↓	-	68

Abbreviations: BP, blood pressure; CQ, chloroquine; CRP, C-reactive protein; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; HCQ, hydroxychloroquine; MAP, mean arterial pressure; MetS, metabolic syndrome; p-JNK, phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase; SBP, systolic blood pressure; TNF-α, tumour necrosis factor-alpha; ↑, increase/stimulate; ↓, decrease/inhibit; ↔, no change.