Contribution of obesity to the rise in incidence of rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To determine whether the “obesity epidemic” could explain the recent rise in the incidence of RA. BACKGROUND Obesity is an under-recognized risk factor for RA. In recent years both the prevalence of obesity and the incidence of RA have been rising. METHODS An inception cohort of Olmsted County, Minnesota residents who fulfilled 1987 American College of Rheumatology criteria for RA in 1980–2007 was compared to population-based controls (matched on age, sex and calendar year). Heights, weights and smoking status were collected from medical records. Obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2. Conditional logistic regression was used to assess the influence of obesity on developing RA. Population attributable risk was used to estimate the incidence of RA in the absence of obesity. RESULTS The study included 813 patients with RA and 813 controls. Both groups had extensive medical history available prior to incidence/index date (mean 32.2 years), and approximately 30% of each group were obese at incidence/index date. The history of obesity was a significantly associated with developing RA (OR:1.24; 95 % CI: 1.01, 1.53 adjusted for smoking status). In 1985–2007 the incidence of RA rose by an increment of 9.2 per 100,000 among women. Obesity accounted for 4.8 per 100,000 (or 52%) of this increase. CONCLUSION Obesity is associated with a modest risk for developing RA. Given the rapidly increasing prevalence of obesity, this has had a significant impact on RA incidence and may account for much of the recent increase in incidence of RA.

The impact of obesity on the development and progression of rheumatoid arthritis

“…Furthermore, obesity was associated with an increased risk of RA with onset before age 55. This is in agreement with a previous, population-based control study from Olmsted County, Minnesota, where obesity was associated with an increased risk of RA diagnosis before, but not after, the age of 60 12. Finally, in the study by Lu et al , being overweight (BMI ≥25 kg/m 2 , based on retrospective self-assessment) at age 18 was a significant predictor of RA (pooled HR 1.35; 95% CI 1.10 to 1.66) 1.…”

Prevalence of obesity in rheumatoid arthritis and its association with disease activity and latex positivity in a sample of patients in Erbil

“…This study showed that a large proportion (79.99%) of RA patients were overweight (33.33%) and obese (46.66%), this is close to Crowson et al study in which 40.3% of cases were revealed to be obese. 28 But this finding is slightly more than Giles study 29 (who reported that 33% of women and 36% of men with RA were obese by BMI and 57% by DEXA scan) and a UK study that reported the prevalence of obesity to be 31% using BMI. 30 This difference could be due to potential geographical factors, lifestyle and eating habits and lack of exercise.…”

A network approach to studying cause-of-death interrelations

“…The relation is partly accounted for by physical inactivity, which is in turn a consequence of both obesity and arthritis. However, other unknown mechanisms may also play a role, owing mainly to the chronic inflammatory processes caused by obesity (Crowson et al 2013). At the same time, a similar underlying etiology justifies the proposed association between rheumatoid 'Arthritis' and 'Hyperplasia of prostate' among elderly men (Tzeng et al 2015), and thyroid hormones (mainly triiodothyronine or T3) are responsible for the association between 'Hyperplasia of prostate' and 'Thyroid' disorders (Gupta et al 2006;Eldhose et al 2016).…”