Smoking, obesity, RF and anti-CCP positivity, high disease activity, early erosions-one of these was found to protect against severe joint damage.
Reference1. Rydell E, Forslind K, Nilsson JÃ , Jacobsson LTH, Turesson C. Smoking, body mass index, disease activity, and the risk of rapid radiographic progression in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Res Ther. 2018;20:82. doi: 10.1186/s13075-018-1575-2.
Rydell and colleagues in Sweden found that smoking, rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) positivity, early erosions, high initial disease activity, and active disease at 1 year increase the risk of rapid radiographic progression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Obesity had a protective effect.1
Scroll through the slides for the details of the study and the take-home messages for clinicians.
The data on BMI should not be taken as a suggestion that patients should strive to be overweight. Keep in mind that obesity confers cardiovascular risk as well as risk of other significant comorbidity, such as diabetes.
