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. 2023 Aug 25;34(4):506-512.
doi: 10.31138/mjr.250823.cpp. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Cachexia Prevalence in a Population of Moroccan Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Hamza Toufik  1 , Najlae El Ouardi  1 , Mohamed Ahmed Ghassem  1 , Julien H Djossou  1 , Laila Taoubane  1 , Abderrahim Majjad  1 , Abdellah El Maghraoui  2 , Ahmed Bezza  1
Affiliations

Cachexia Prevalence in a Population of Moroccan Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Hamza Toufik et al. Mediterr J Rheumatol. .

Abstract

Objective: To assess body composition in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to healthy controls, to calculate the prevalence of rheumatoid Cachexia (RC), and to identify the associated factors.

Methods: We conducted a case-control study on 112 female patients with RA according to the 2010 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism classification criteria for RA; and 224 age-matched healthy women. Body composition (BC) and bone mineral density (BMD) scans were obtained using Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). RC was defined by a fat-free mass index (FFMI) below the 10th percentile and a fat mass index (FMI) above the 25th percentile compared with the control group. We conducted a comparison between RA patients and healthy controls then a multiple regression analysis was conducted where the dependant variable is the presence of RC.

Results: RC prevalence was 42.85% while the mean body mass index (BMI) was the same in both groups. RA patients had a higher FM and lower FFM comparing to healthy controls. In our population, 78.60% of patients were on methotrexate and 12.50% on anti TNF therapy. Comparison between patients with and without RC showed that patients with RC have a higher proportion of erosive arthritis and of active disease. Regression logistic analysis showed that RC was significantly associated to erosive arthritis and active disease (OR at 33.31 (8.42-131.70) and 8.98 (1.64-49.20) respectively), independently of age, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, disease duration, steroid cumulative dose and biologic Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs(bDMARDs) use.

Conclusion: Our study showed that almost half of our RA patients have RC, even with a high BMI.

Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis; body composition; dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry; fat mass; fat-free mass; rheumatoid cachexia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Distribution of FFMI and FMI relative to RA with or without cachexia and controls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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