About the Authors

Holly F. Hope

Contributed equally to this work with: Holly F. Hope, George M. Binkley

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

holly.hope@manchester.ac.uk

Current Address: Centre for Women’s Mental Health, Division of Psychology and Mental Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester England

Affiliation Arthritis Research UK Centre for Epidemiology, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester. England

George M. Binkley

Contributed equally to this work with: Holly F. Hope, George M. Binkley

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Arthritis Research UK Centre for Epidemiology, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester. England

Sally Fenton

Roles Investigation, Validation, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England

George D. Kitas

Roles Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliations School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, Rheumatology Department, Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, Dudley, England

Suzanne M. M. Verstappen

Roles Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliations Arthritis Research UK Centre for Epidemiology, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester. England, NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England

Deborah P. M. Symmons

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Arthritis Research UK Centre for Epidemiology, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester. England

Competing Interests

No funding disclosure to make in relation to this systematic review. After review of the journal policy the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: Prof. George Kitas and Prof. Deborah Symmons were principal investigators with the project TRACE-RA a RCT of atorvastatin vs placebo for the primary prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with rheumatoid arthritis jointly funded by Arthritis Research UK and the British Heart Foundation (Grant Ref: 16514). The trial drugs and support for the associated biobank was provided by Pfizer Inc. The systematic review was not commissioned by a commercial company, none of the authors received any commercial funding during the period that the review was carried out, and the review has not been seen by any commercial company prior to submission to PLOS ONE.