Mechanisms of depressed delayed-type hypersensitivity in rheumatoid arthritis: the role of protein energy malnutrition.
The presence of anergy and its relationship to malnutrition was investigated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and in controls. A generalised reduction in delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity to 7 recall antigens were found in 104 RA patients compared with 67 controls. No measured of the disease was capable of predicting cutaneous anergy, which was present in 36% of patients but none of the controls. A detailed dietary assessment in 30 RA patients and 30 controls revealed little evidence of clinically important malnutrition. It is therefore concluded that the cutaneous anergy of rheumatoid arthritis is not a consequence of nutritional factors.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006968:Hypersensitivity, Delayed / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011502:Protein-Energy Malnutrition / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D012882:Skin Tests