Gender, body mass index and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity: Results from the QUEST-RA study

Damini Jawaheer; Jørn Olsen; Maureen Lahiff; Sinikka Forsberg; Jukka Lähteenmäki; Ines Guimaraes da Silveira; Francisco Airton Rocha; Ieda Maria Magalhães Laurindo; Licia Maria Henrique da Mota; Alexandros A. Drosos; Eithne Murphy; Claire Sheehy; Edel Quirke; Maurizio Cutolo; Sylejman Rexhepi; Jolanta Dadoniene; Suzan M.M. Verstappen; Tuulikki Sokka; Sergio Toloza; Santiago Aguero; Sergio Orellana Barrera; Soledad Retamozo; Paula Alba; Cruz Lascano; Alejandra Babini; Eduardo Albiero; Geraldo da Rocha Castelar Pinheiro; Juris Lazovskis; Merete Lund Hetland; Lykke Ørnbjerg; Kim Hørslev-Petersen; Troels Mørk Hansen; Lene Surland Knudsen; Hisham Hamoud; Mohamad Sobhy; Ahmad Fahmy; Mohamad Magdy; Hany Aly; Hatem Saeid; Ahmad Nagm; Nihal A. Fathi; Esam Abda; Zahra Ebraheam; Raili Müller; Reet Kuuse; Marika Tammaru; Riina Kallikorm; Tony Peets; Kati Otsa; Karin Laas; Ivo Valter; Heidi Mäkinen; Kai Immonen; Reijo Luukkainen; Laure Gossec; Maxime Dougados; Jean Francis Maillefert; Bernard Combe; Jean Sibilia; Sofia Exarchou; H. M. Moutsopoulos; Afrodite Tsirogianni; Fotini N. Skopouli; Maria Mavrommati; Gertraud Herborn; Rolf Rau; Rieke Alten; Christof Pohl; Gerd R. Burmester; Bettina Marsmann; Pál Géher; Bernadette Rojkovich; Barry Bresnihan; Patricia Minnock; Joe Devlin; Shafeeq Alraqi; Amita Aggarwal; Sapan Pandya; Banwari Sharma; Massimiliano Cazzato; Stefano Bombardieri; Gianfranco Ferraccioli; Alessia Morelli; Fausto Salaffi; Andrea Stancati; Hisashi Yamanaka; Ayako Nakajima; Wataru Fukuda; Eisuke Shono; Omondi Oyoo; Mjellma Rexhepi; Daina Andersone; Sigita Stropuviene; Asta Baranauskaite; Naija Hajjaj-Hassouni; Karima Benbouazza; Fadoua Allali; Rachid Bahiri; Bouchra Amine; Johannes W.G. Jacobs; Margriet Huisman; Monique Hoekstra; Glenn Haugeberg; Hilde Gjelberg; Stanislaw Sierakowski; Maria Majdan; Wojciech Romanowski; Witold Tlustochowicz; Danuta Kapolka; Stefan Sadkiewicz; Danuta Zarowny-Wierzbinska; Ruxandra Ionescu; Denisa Predeteanu; Dmitry Karateev; Elena Luchikhina; Natalia Chichasova; Vladimir Badokin; Vlado Skakic; Aleksander Dimic; Jovan Nedovic; Aleksandra Stankovic; Antonio Naranjo; Carlos Rodríguez-Lozano; Jaime Calvo-Alen; Miguel Belmonte; Eva Baecklund; Dan Henrohn; Rolf Oding; Margareth Liveborn; Ann Carin Holmqvist; Feride Gogus; Recep Tunc; Selda Celic; Humeira Badsha; Ayman Mofti; Peter Taylor; Catherine McClinton; Anthony Woolf; Ginny Chorghade; Ernest Choy; Stephen Kelly; Theodore Pincus; Yusuf Yazici; Martin Bergman; Jurgen Craig-Muller; Hannu Kautiainen; Christopher Swearingen

Gender, body mass index and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity: Results from the QUEST-RA study

Damini Jawaheer^*, Jørn Olsen, Maureen Lahiff, Sinikka Forsberg, Jukka Lähteenmäki, Ines Guimaraes da Silveira, Francisco Airton Rocha, Ieda Maria Magalhães Laurindo, Licia Maria Henrique da Mota, Alexandros A. Drosos, Eithne Murphy, Claire Sheehy, Edel Quirke, Maurizio Cutolo, Sylejman Rexhepi, Jolanta Dadoniene, Suzan M.M. Verstappen, Tuulikki Sokka, Sergio Toloza, Santiago AgueroSergio Orellana Barrera, Soledad Retamozo, Paula Alba, Cruz Lascano, Alejandra Babini, Eduardo Albiero, Geraldo da Rocha Castelar Pinheiro, Juris Lazovskis, Merete Lund Hetland, Lykke Ørnbjerg, Kim Hørslev-Petersen, Troels Mørk Hansen, Lene Surland Knudsen, Hisham Hamoud, Mohamad Sobhy, Ahmad Fahmy, Mohamad Magdy, Hany Aly, Hatem Saeid, Ahmad Nagm, Nihal A. Fathi, Esam Abda, Zahra Ebraheam, Raili Müller, Reet Kuuse, Marika Tammaru, Riina Kallikorm, Tony Peets, Kati Otsa, Karin Laas, Ivo Valter, Heidi Mäkinen, Kai Immonen, Reijo Luukkainen, Laure Gossec, Maxime Dougados, Jean Francis Maillefert, Bernard Combe, Jean Sibilia, Sofia Exarchou, H. M. Moutsopoulos, Afrodite Tsirogianni, Fotini N. Skopouli, Maria Mavrommati, Gertraud Herborn, Rolf Rau, Rieke Alten, Christof Pohl, Gerd R. Burmester, Bettina Marsmann, Pál Géher, Bernadette Rojkovich, Barry Bresnihan, Patricia Minnock, Joe Devlin, Shafeeq Alraqi, Amita Aggarwal, Sapan Pandya, Banwari Sharma, Massimiliano Cazzato, Stefano Bombardieri, Gianfranco Ferraccioli, Alessia Morelli, Fausto Salaffi, Andrea Stancati, Hisashi Yamanaka, Ayako Nakajima, Wataru Fukuda, Eisuke Shono, Omondi Oyoo, Mjellma Rexhepi, Daina Andersone, Sigita Stropuviene, Asta Baranauskaite, Naija Hajjaj-Hassouni, Karima Benbouazza, Fadoua Allali, Rachid Bahiri, Bouchra Amine, Johannes W.G. Jacobs, Margriet Huisman, Monique Hoekstra, Glenn Haugeberg, Hilde Gjelberg, Stanislaw Sierakowski, Maria Majdan, Wojciech Romanowski, Witold Tlustochowicz, Danuta Kapolka, Stefan Sadkiewicz, Danuta Zarowny-Wierzbinska, Ruxandra Ionescu, Denisa Predeteanu, Dmitry Karateev, Elena Luchikhina, Natalia Chichasova, Vladimir Badokin, Vlado Skakic, Aleksander Dimic, Jovan Nedovic, Aleksandra Stankovic, Antonio Naranjo, Carlos Rodríguez-Lozano, Jaime Calvo-Alen, Miguel Belmonte, Eva Baecklund, Dan Henrohn, Rolf Oding, Margareth Liveborn, Ann Carin Holmqvist, Feride Gogus, Recep Tunc, Selda Celic, Humeira Badsha, Ayman Mofti, Peter Taylor, Catherine McClinton, Anthony Woolf, Ginny Chorghade, Ernest Choy, Stephen Kelly, Theodore Pincus, Yusuf Yazici, Martin Bergman, Jurgen Craig-Muller, Hannu Kautiainen, Christopher Swearingen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Medicine, Rheumatology Division

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether body mass index (BMI), as a proxy for body fat, influences rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity in a gender-specific manner. Methods: Consecutive patients with RA were enrolled from 25 countries into the QUEST-RA program between 2005 and 2008. Clinical and demographic data were collected by treating rheumatologists and by patient self-report. Distributions of Disease Activity Scores (DAS28), BMI, age, and disease duration were assessed for each country and for the entire dataset; mean values between genders were compared using Student's t-tests. An association between BMI and DAS28 was investigated using linear regression, adjusting for age, disease duration and country. Results: A total of 5,161 RA patients (4,082 women and 1,079 men) were included in the analyses. Overall, women were younger, had longer disease duration, and higher DAS28 scores than men, but BMI was similar between genders. The mean DAS28 scores increased with increasing BMI from normal to overweight and obese, among women, whereas the opposite trend was observed among men. Regression results showed BMI (continuous or categorical) to be associated with DAS28. Compared to the normal BMI range, being obese was associated with a larger difference in mean DAS28 (0.23, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.34) than being overweight (0.12, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.21); being underweight was not associated with disease activity. These associations were more pronounced among women, and were not explained by any single component of the DAS28. Conclusion: BMI appears to be associated with RA disease activity in women, but not in men.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	454-461
Number of pages	8
Journal	Clinical and experimental rheumatology
Volume	28
Issue number	4
State	Published - 2010

Keywords

Bmi
Disease activity
Gender
Rheumatoid arthritis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Rheumatology
Immunology and Allergy
Immunology

Cite this

Jawaheer, D., Olsen, J., Lahiff, M., Forsberg, S., Lähteenmäki, J., da Silveira, I. G., Rocha, F. A., Laurindo, I. M. M., da Mota, L. M. H., Drosos, A. A., Murphy, E., Sheehy, C., Quirke, E., Cutolo, M., Rexhepi, S., Dadoniene, J., Verstappen, S. M. M., Sokka, T., Toloza, S., ... Swearingen, C. (2010). Gender, body mass index and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity: Results from the QUEST-RA study. Clinical and experimental rheumatology, 28(4), 454-461.

@article{74dbc07ee0844d459120880a43037f2b,

title = "Gender, body mass index and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity: Results from the QUEST-RA study",

abstract = "Objective: To investigate whether body mass index (BMI), as a proxy for body fat, influences rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity in a gender-specific manner. Methods: Consecutive patients with RA were enrolled from 25 countries into the QUEST-RA program between 2005 and 2008. Clinical and demographic data were collected by treating rheumatologists and by patient self-report. Distributions of Disease Activity Scores (DAS28), BMI, age, and disease duration were assessed for each country and for the entire dataset; mean values between genders were compared using Student's t-tests. An association between BMI and DAS28 was investigated using linear regression, adjusting for age, disease duration and country. Results: A total of 5,161 RA patients (4,082 women and 1,079 men) were included in the analyses. Overall, women were younger, had longer disease duration, and higher DAS28 scores than men, but BMI was similar between genders. The mean DAS28 scores increased with increasing BMI from normal to overweight and obese, among women, whereas the opposite trend was observed among men. Regression results showed BMI (continuous or categorical) to be associated with DAS28. Compared to the normal BMI range, being obese was associated with a larger difference in mean DAS28 (0.23, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.34) than being overweight (0.12, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.21); being underweight was not associated with disease activity. These associations were more pronounced among women, and were not explained by any single component of the DAS28. Conclusion: BMI appears to be associated with RA disease activity in women, but not in men.",

keywords = "Bmi, Disease activity, Gender, Rheumatoid arthritis",

author = "Damini Jawaheer and J{\o}rn Olsen and Maureen Lahiff and Sinikka Forsberg and Jukka L{\"a}hteenm{\"a}ki and {da Silveira}, {Ines Guimaraes} and Rocha, {Francisco Airton} and Laurindo, {Ieda Maria Magalh{\~a}es} and {da Mota}, {Licia Maria Henrique} and Drosos, {Alexandros A.} and Eithne Murphy and Claire Sheehy and Edel Quirke and Maurizio Cutolo and Sylejman Rexhepi and Jolanta Dadoniene and Verstappen, {Suzan M.M.} and Tuulikki Sokka and Sergio Toloza and Santiago Aguero and Barrera, {Sergio Orellana} and Soledad Retamozo and Paula Alba and Cruz Lascano and Alejandra Babini and Eduardo Albiero and Pinheiro, {Geraldo da Rocha Castelar} and Juris Lazovskis and Hetland, {Merete Lund} and Lykke {\O}rnbjerg and Kim H{\o}rslev-Petersen and Hansen, {Troels M{\o}rk} and Knudsen, {Lene Surland} and Hisham Hamoud and Mohamad Sobhy and Ahmad Fahmy and Mohamad Magdy and Hany Aly and Hatem Saeid and Ahmad Nagm and Fathi, {Nihal A.} and Esam Abda and Zahra Ebraheam and Raili M{\"u}ller and Reet Kuuse and Marika Tammaru and Riina Kallikorm and Tony Peets and Kati Otsa and Karin Laas and Ivo Valter and Heidi M{\"a}kinen and Kai Immonen and Reijo Luukkainen and Laure Gossec and Maxime Dougados and Maillefert, {Jean Francis} and Bernard Combe and Jean Sibilia and Sofia Exarchou and Moutsopoulos, {H. M.} and Afrodite Tsirogianni and Skopouli, {Fotini N.} and Maria Mavrommati and Gertraud Herborn and Rolf Rau and Rieke Alten and Christof Pohl and Burmester, {Gerd R.} and Bettina Marsmann and P{\'a}l G{\'e}her and Bernadette Rojkovich and Barry Bresnihan and Patricia Minnock and Joe Devlin and Shafeeq Alraqi and Amita Aggarwal and Sapan Pandya and Banwari Sharma and Massimiliano Cazzato and Stefano Bombardieri and Gianfranco Ferraccioli and Alessia Morelli and Fausto Salaffi and Andrea Stancati and Hisashi Yamanaka and Ayako Nakajima and Wataru Fukuda and Eisuke Shono and Omondi Oyoo and Mjellma Rexhepi and Daina Andersone and Sigita Stropuviene and Asta Baranauskaite and Naija Hajjaj-Hassouni and Karima Benbouazza and Fadoua Allali and Rachid Bahiri and Bouchra Amine and Jacobs, {Johannes W.G.} and Margriet Huisman and Monique Hoekstra and Glenn Haugeberg and Hilde Gjelberg and Stanislaw Sierakowski and Maria Majdan and Wojciech Romanowski and Witold Tlustochowicz and Danuta Kapolka and Stefan Sadkiewicz and Danuta Zarowny-Wierzbinska and Ruxandra Ionescu and Denisa Predeteanu and Dmitry Karateev and Elena Luchikhina and Natalia Chichasova and Vladimir Badokin and Vlado Skakic and Aleksander Dimic and Jovan Nedovic and Aleksandra Stankovic and Antonio Naranjo and Carlos Rodr{\'i}guez-Lozano and Jaime Calvo-Alen and Miguel Belmonte and Eva Baecklund and Dan Henrohn and Rolf Oding and Margareth Liveborn and Holmqvist, {Ann Carin} and Feride Gogus and Recep Tunc and Selda Celic and Humeira Badsha and Ayman Mofti and Peter Taylor and Catherine McClinton and Anthony Woolf and Ginny Chorghade and Ernest Choy and Stephen Kelly and Theodore Pincus and Yusuf Yazici and Martin Bergman and Jurgen Craig-Muller and Hannu Kautiainen and Christopher Swearingen",

year = "2010",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "28",

pages = "454--461",

journal = "Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology",

issn = "0392-856X",

publisher = "Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology S.A.S.",

number = "4",

}

Jawaheer, D, Olsen, J, Lahiff, M, Forsberg, S, Lähteenmäki, J, da Silveira, IG, Rocha, FA, Laurindo, IMM, da Mota, LMH, Drosos, AA, Murphy, E, Sheehy, C, Quirke, E, Cutolo, M, Rexhepi, S, Dadoniene, J, Verstappen, SMM, Sokka, T, Toloza, S, Aguero, S, Barrera, SO, Retamozo, S, Alba, P, Lascano, C, Babini, A, Albiero, E, Pinheiro, GDRC, Lazovskis, J, Hetland, ML, Ørnbjerg, L, Hørslev-Petersen, K, Hansen, TM, Knudsen, LS, Hamoud, H, Sobhy, M, Fahmy, A, Magdy, M, Aly, H, Saeid, H, Nagm, A, Fathi, NA, Abda, E, Ebraheam, Z, Müller, R, Kuuse, R, Tammaru, M, Kallikorm, R, Peets, T, Otsa, K, Laas, K, Valter, I, Mäkinen, H, Immonen, K, Luukkainen, R, Gossec, L, Dougados, M, Maillefert, JF, Combe, B, Sibilia, J, Exarchou, S, Moutsopoulos, HM, Tsirogianni, A, Skopouli, FN, Mavrommati, M, Herborn, G, Rau, R, Alten, R, Pohl, C, Burmester, GR, Marsmann, B, Géher, P, Rojkovich, B, Bresnihan, B, Minnock, P, Devlin, J, Alraqi, S, Aggarwal, A, Pandya, S, Sharma, B, Cazzato, M, Bombardieri, S, Ferraccioli, G, Morelli, A, Salaffi, F, Stancati, A, Yamanaka, H, Nakajima, A, Fukuda, W, Shono, E, Oyoo, O, Rexhepi, M, Andersone, D, Stropuviene, S, Baranauskaite, A, Hajjaj-Hassouni, N, Benbouazza, K, Allali, F, Bahiri, R, Amine, B, Jacobs, JWG, Huisman, M, Hoekstra, M, Haugeberg, G, Gjelberg, H, Sierakowski, S, Majdan, M, Romanowski, W, Tlustochowicz, W, Kapolka, D, Sadkiewicz, S, Zarowny-Wierzbinska, D, Ionescu, R, Predeteanu, D, Karateev, D, Luchikhina, E, Chichasova, N, Badokin, V, Skakic, V, Dimic, A, Nedovic, J, Stankovic, A, Naranjo, A, Rodríguez-Lozano, C, Calvo-Alen, J, Belmonte, M, Baecklund, E, Henrohn, D, Oding, R, Liveborn, M, Holmqvist, AC, Gogus, F, Tunc, R, Celic, S, Badsha, H, Mofti, A, Taylor, P, McClinton, C, Woolf, A, Chorghade, G, Choy, E, Kelly, S, Pincus, T, Yazici, Y, Bergman, M, Craig-Muller, J, Kautiainen, H & Swearingen, C 2010, 'Gender, body mass index and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity: Results from the QUEST-RA study', Clinical and experimental rheumatology, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 454-461.

TY - JOUR

T1 - Gender, body mass index and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity

T2 - Results from the QUEST-RA study

AU - Jawaheer, Damini

AU - Olsen, Jørn

AU - Lahiff, Maureen

AU - Forsberg, Sinikka

AU - Lähteenmäki, Jukka

AU - da Silveira, Ines Guimaraes

AU - Rocha, Francisco Airton

AU - Laurindo, Ieda Maria Magalhães

AU - da Mota, Licia Maria Henrique

AU - Drosos, Alexandros A.

AU - Murphy, Eithne

AU - Sheehy, Claire

AU - Quirke, Edel

AU - Cutolo, Maurizio

AU - Rexhepi, Sylejman

AU - Dadoniene, Jolanta

AU - Verstappen, Suzan M.M.

AU - Sokka, Tuulikki

AU - Toloza, Sergio

AU - Aguero, Santiago

AU - Barrera, Sergio Orellana

AU - Retamozo, Soledad

AU - Alba, Paula

AU - Lascano, Cruz

AU - Babini, Alejandra

AU - Albiero, Eduardo

AU - Pinheiro, Geraldo da Rocha Castelar

AU - Lazovskis, Juris

AU - Hetland, Merete Lund

AU - Ørnbjerg, Lykke

AU - Hørslev-Petersen, Kim

AU - Hansen, Troels Mørk

AU - Knudsen, Lene Surland

AU - Hamoud, Hisham

AU - Sobhy, Mohamad

AU - Fahmy, Ahmad

AU - Magdy, Mohamad

AU - Aly, Hany

AU - Saeid, Hatem

AU - Nagm, Ahmad

AU - Fathi, Nihal A.

AU - Abda, Esam

AU - Ebraheam, Zahra

AU - Müller, Raili

AU - Kuuse, Reet

AU - Tammaru, Marika

AU - Kallikorm, Riina

AU - Peets, Tony

AU - Otsa, Kati

AU - Laas, Karin

AU - Valter, Ivo

AU - Mäkinen, Heidi

AU - Immonen, Kai

AU - Luukkainen, Reijo

AU - Gossec, Laure

AU - Dougados, Maxime

AU - Maillefert, Jean Francis

AU - Combe, Bernard

AU - Sibilia, Jean

AU - Exarchou, Sofia

AU - Moutsopoulos, H. M.

AU - Tsirogianni, Afrodite

AU - Skopouli, Fotini N.

AU - Mavrommati, Maria

AU - Herborn, Gertraud

AU - Rau, Rolf

AU - Alten, Rieke

AU - Pohl, Christof

AU - Burmester, Gerd R.

AU - Marsmann, Bettina

AU - Géher, Pál

AU - Rojkovich, Bernadette

AU - Bresnihan, Barry

AU - Minnock, Patricia

AU - Devlin, Joe

AU - Alraqi, Shafeeq

AU - Aggarwal, Amita

AU - Pandya, Sapan

AU - Sharma, Banwari

AU - Cazzato, Massimiliano

AU - Bombardieri, Stefano

AU - Ferraccioli, Gianfranco

AU - Morelli, Alessia

AU - Salaffi, Fausto

AU - Stancati, Andrea

AU - Yamanaka, Hisashi

AU - Nakajima, Ayako

AU - Fukuda, Wataru

AU - Shono, Eisuke

AU - Oyoo, Omondi

AU - Rexhepi, Mjellma

AU - Andersone, Daina

AU - Stropuviene, Sigita

AU - Baranauskaite, Asta

AU - Hajjaj-Hassouni, Naija

AU - Benbouazza, Karima

AU - Allali, Fadoua

AU - Bahiri, Rachid

AU - Amine, Bouchra

AU - Jacobs, Johannes W.G.

AU - Huisman, Margriet

AU - Hoekstra, Monique

AU - Haugeberg, Glenn

AU - Gjelberg, Hilde

AU - Sierakowski, Stanislaw

AU - Majdan, Maria

AU - Romanowski, Wojciech

AU - Tlustochowicz, Witold

AU - Kapolka, Danuta

AU - Sadkiewicz, Stefan

AU - Zarowny-Wierzbinska, Danuta

AU - Ionescu, Ruxandra

AU - Predeteanu, Denisa

AU - Karateev, Dmitry

AU - Luchikhina, Elena

AU - Chichasova, Natalia

AU - Badokin, Vladimir

AU - Skakic, Vlado

AU - Dimic, Aleksander

AU - Nedovic, Jovan

AU - Stankovic, Aleksandra

AU - Naranjo, Antonio

AU - Rodríguez-Lozano, Carlos

AU - Calvo-Alen, Jaime

AU - Belmonte, Miguel

AU - Baecklund, Eva

AU - Henrohn, Dan

AU - Oding, Rolf

AU - Liveborn, Margareth

AU - Holmqvist, Ann Carin

AU - Gogus, Feride

AU - Tunc, Recep

AU - Celic, Selda

AU - Badsha, Humeira

AU - Mofti, Ayman

AU - Taylor, Peter

AU - McClinton, Catherine

AU - Woolf, Anthony

AU - Chorghade, Ginny

AU - Choy, Ernest

AU - Kelly, Stephen

AU - Pincus, Theodore

AU - Yazici, Yusuf

AU - Bergman, Martin

AU - Craig-Muller, Jurgen

AU - Kautiainen, Hannu

AU - Swearingen, Christopher

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - Objective: To investigate whether body mass index (BMI), as a proxy for body fat, influences rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity in a gender-specific manner. Methods: Consecutive patients with RA were enrolled from 25 countries into the QUEST-RA program between 2005 and 2008. Clinical and demographic data were collected by treating rheumatologists and by patient self-report. Distributions of Disease Activity Scores (DAS28), BMI, age, and disease duration were assessed for each country and for the entire dataset; mean values between genders were compared using Student's t-tests. An association between BMI and DAS28 was investigated using linear regression, adjusting for age, disease duration and country. Results: A total of 5,161 RA patients (4,082 women and 1,079 men) were included in the analyses. Overall, women were younger, had longer disease duration, and higher DAS28 scores than men, but BMI was similar between genders. The mean DAS28 scores increased with increasing BMI from normal to overweight and obese, among women, whereas the opposite trend was observed among men. Regression results showed BMI (continuous or categorical) to be associated with DAS28. Compared to the normal BMI range, being obese was associated with a larger difference in mean DAS28 (0.23, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.34) than being overweight (0.12, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.21); being underweight was not associated with disease activity. These associations were more pronounced among women, and were not explained by any single component of the DAS28. Conclusion: BMI appears to be associated with RA disease activity in women, but not in men.

AB - Objective: To investigate whether body mass index (BMI), as a proxy for body fat, influences rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity in a gender-specific manner. Methods: Consecutive patients with RA were enrolled from 25 countries into the QUEST-RA program between 2005 and 2008. Clinical and demographic data were collected by treating rheumatologists and by patient self-report. Distributions of Disease Activity Scores (DAS28), BMI, age, and disease duration were assessed for each country and for the entire dataset; mean values between genders were compared using Student's t-tests. An association between BMI and DAS28 was investigated using linear regression, adjusting for age, disease duration and country. Results: A total of 5,161 RA patients (4,082 women and 1,079 men) were included in the analyses. Overall, women were younger, had longer disease duration, and higher DAS28 scores than men, but BMI was similar between genders. The mean DAS28 scores increased with increasing BMI from normal to overweight and obese, among women, whereas the opposite trend was observed among men. Regression results showed BMI (continuous or categorical) to be associated with DAS28. Compared to the normal BMI range, being obese was associated with a larger difference in mean DAS28 (0.23, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.34) than being overweight (0.12, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.21); being underweight was not associated with disease activity. These associations were more pronounced among women, and were not explained by any single component of the DAS28. Conclusion: BMI appears to be associated with RA disease activity in women, but not in men.

KW - Bmi

KW - Disease activity

KW - Gender

KW - Rheumatoid arthritis

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79952056556&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79952056556&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Article

C2 - 20810033

AN - SCOPUS:79952056556

SN - 0392-856X

VL - 28

SP - 454

EP - 461

JO - Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology

JF - Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology

IS - 4

ER -

Gender, body mass index and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity: Results from the QUEST-RA study

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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