In a nutshell
This study examined the impact of body weight on disease activity in patients with arthritis. The authors concluded that patients who are obese are less likely to see improvements in disease activity after treatment than patients with a normal weight.
Some background
Patients with conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (a form of arthritis that affects some people who have the skin condition psoriasis) have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease. Obesity is a known risk factor of cardiovascular disease and is more common in patients with RA than in the general population. Obesity is usually based on body mass index (BMI). This is a measurement based on height and weight used to determine if a person is at a healthy weight. It is thought that RA patients who are obese or overweight may not respond as well to treatment than patients with a normal weight.
Methods & findings
The authors examined data from 17 studies to evaluate the link between body weight and treatment response in arthritis patients. 10 of these studies followed a total of 5,131 RA patients undergoing treatment. 7 studies followed a total of 1,562 patients with psoriatic arthritis. 26.4% of patients were classified as obese (based on BMI). 23.6% were classified as overweight. 50% of patients had a healthy weight.
Across all studies, 50% of patients with a healthy weight achieved remission during the study period. This was significantly higher compared to obese patients (30.9%). Overall, the likelihood to achieve remission was reduced by 55.3% for obese patients.
Among RA patients, those with a healthy weight were 58.3% more likely to show significant improvement in disease activity compared to obese patients. Factors such as shorter follow-up, older age, male gender, and shorter treatment duration were found to increase the effect of obesity on treatment response. No significant differences were observed between overweight RA patients and those with a healthy weight.
The bottom line
The authors concluded that being obese can reduce the chances of seeing significant improvements in disease activity after arthritis treatment.
The fine print
This data was collected from 17 different studies where the definition of a significant improvement in disease activity varied.
Published By :
Arthritis Research & Therapy
Date :
Dec 13, 2016
