Zanoli L, et al. - Whether chronic inflammation accounts for the increased aortic pulse-wave velocity (aPWV) previously reported in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and whether anti-TNFa (anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha) therapy attenuate aPWV in these patients was investigated in this multicenter longitudinal study including 334 patients: 82 patients with ulcerative colitis, 85 patients with Crohn disease, and 167 healthy control subjects matched for age, sex, and mean blood pressure. Participants were recruited from 3 centers in Europe, and were followed for 4 years (range, 2.5–5.7 years). Higher baseline aPWV was detected among IBD patients vs controls. aPWV, an established surrogate measure of cardiovascular risk, was found to be attenuated by long-term anti–TNFa therapy in patients with IBD. This finding implies that cardiovascular risk in these patients could be attenuated via effective control of inflammation.