TY - JOUR
T1 - An unfavorable body composition is common in early arthritis patients: A case control study
AU - Turk, Samina A.
AU - van Schaardenburg, Dirkjan
AU - Boers, Maarten
AU - de Boer, Sylvia
AU - Fokker, Cindy
AU - Lems, Willem F.
AU - Nurmohamed, Michael T.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Background An unfavorable body composition is often present in chronic arthritis patients. This unfavorable composition is a loss of muscle mass, with a stable or increased (abdominal) fat mass. Since it is unknown when this unfavorable composition develops, we compared body composition in disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD)-naive early arthritis patients with non-arthritis controls and explored the association, in early arthritis patients, with disease activity and traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Methods 317 consecutive early arthritis patients (84% rheumatoid arthritis according to 2010 ACR/ EULAR criteria) and 1268 age-/gender-/ethnicity-matched non-arthritis controls underwent a Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan to assess fat percentage, fat mass index, fat mass distribution and appendicular lean (muscle) mass index. Additionally, disease activity, health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), acute phase proteins, lipid profile and blood pressure were evaluated. Results Loss of muscle mass (corrected for age suspected muscle mass) was 4–5 times more common in early arthritis patients, with a significantly lower mean appendicular lean mass index (females 6% and males 7% lower, p<0.01). Patients had more fat distributed to the trunk (females p<0.01, males p = 0.07) and females had a 4% higher mean fat mass index (p<0.01). An unfavorable body composition was associated with a higher blood pressure and an atherogenic lipid profile. There was no relationship with disease activity, HAQ or acute phase proteins. Conclusion Loss of muscle mass is 4–5 times more common in early arthritis patients, and is in early arthritis patients associated with a higher blood pressure and an atherogenic lipid profile. Therefore, cardiovascular risk is already increased at the clinical onset of arthritis making cardiovascular risk management necessary in early arthritis patients.
AB - Background An unfavorable body composition is often present in chronic arthritis patients. This unfavorable composition is a loss of muscle mass, with a stable or increased (abdominal) fat mass. Since it is unknown when this unfavorable composition develops, we compared body composition in disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD)-naive early arthritis patients with non-arthritis controls and explored the association, in early arthritis patients, with disease activity and traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Methods 317 consecutive early arthritis patients (84% rheumatoid arthritis according to 2010 ACR/ EULAR criteria) and 1268 age-/gender-/ethnicity-matched non-arthritis controls underwent a Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan to assess fat percentage, fat mass index, fat mass distribution and appendicular lean (muscle) mass index. Additionally, disease activity, health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), acute phase proteins, lipid profile and blood pressure were evaluated. Results Loss of muscle mass (corrected for age suspected muscle mass) was 4–5 times more common in early arthritis patients, with a significantly lower mean appendicular lean mass index (females 6% and males 7% lower, p<0.01). Patients had more fat distributed to the trunk (females p<0.01, males p = 0.07) and females had a 4% higher mean fat mass index (p<0.01). An unfavorable body composition was associated with a higher blood pressure and an atherogenic lipid profile. There was no relationship with disease activity, HAQ or acute phase proteins. Conclusion Loss of muscle mass is 4–5 times more common in early arthritis patients, and is in early arthritis patients associated with a higher blood pressure and an atherogenic lipid profile. Therefore, cardiovascular risk is already increased at the clinical onset of arthritis making cardiovascular risk management necessary in early arthritis patients.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85044406997&origin=inward
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29565986
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193377
DO - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193377
M3 - Article
C2 - 29565986
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 13
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
IS - 3
M1 - e0193377
ER -