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Being overweight could prevent your Rheumatoid Arthritis from going into remission

Newswise — Being overweight can prevent sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis from going into remission, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Boston, Mass.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that causes pain, stiffness, swelling, and limitation in the motion and function of multiple joints.

Though joints are the principal body parts affected by RA, inflammation can develop in other organs as well. An estimated 2.1 million Americans have RA, most of them women.

Researchers studied 100 patients with recent onset RA to determine if body mass index (BMI), a calculation based on body fat, height and weight, can contribute to the remission of RA.

Participants were randomly placed on either combination therapy consisting of methotrexate, sulfasalazine, hydroxychloroquine, prednisolone and either placebo or infliximab.

After 12 months of treatment, 58 percent of patients with normal body weight on placebo plus combination therapy were in remission, compared to only 35 percent of those who were overweight and 25 percent of those who were clinically obese (BMI of 30 or greater).

The effect of being overweight on ability to achieve remission was not apparent in patients taking combination therapy and infliximab. In this group on infliximab, 45 percent of patients with normal body weight were in remission, while 74 percent of overweight and 55 percent of obese patients were in remission.

“Obesity (increasing body mass index) induces resistance to conventional anti-rheumatic drugs— even in aggressive combination. Infliximab overcomes this resistance, probably due to its direct effect on inflammatory mediators,” said Marjatta Leirisalo-Repo, MD, PhD; professor of rheumatology; Helsinki University Central Hospital; department of medicine; division of Rheumatology.

“Obese subjects are at increased risk for inflammatory complications due to the production of proinflammatory mediators by the fat tissue.”

The ACR is an organization of and for physicians, health professionals, and scientists that advances rheumatology through programs of education, research, advocacy and practice support that foster excellence in the care of people with or at risk for arthritis and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.