Conclusion: Sparks et al observed that severe weight loss during the early RA period was associated with a subsequent increased mortality risk both for women with and without RA. Compared with stable weight during the early RA period, weight gain was not associated with subsequent mortality risk for either RA patients or matched comparators.
These results emphasize the need to consider a non-RA population when investigating the relationship between an exposure and an outcome that is not specifically related to the disease population of interest.
These results also extend prior observations by including non-RA comparators and finding no protective association between weight gain and mortality, providing evidence against an RA-specific obesity paradox for mortality in RA.
Excerpted and adapted from:
Sparks JA, Chang S-C, Nguyen U-S, et al. Weight change during the early rheumatoid arthritis period and risk of subsequent mortality in women with rheumatoid arthritis and matched comparators. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2018 Jan;70(1):18–29.
