title: The risk of metabolic syndrome in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a meta-analysis of observational studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Observational studies suggest an association between the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS). However, the relationship between RA and MetS is controversial and research in this area is currently lacking.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess whether the prevalence of MetS was higher in a group of RA patients compared to subjects without RA.
  
  
  METHODS
  A PubMed database search was conducted during April 2013 to identify observational studies of RA and risk of MetS. Reference lists of retrieved articles were also reviewed. Two authors independently extracted information on the study design, the characteristics of the study participants, exposure and outcome assessments, and the method used to control for potential confounding factors. A random-effects model was used for the risk estimates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our meta-analysis of four cross-sectional controlled studies plus eight case-control studies involving a total of 2283 cases and 4403 controls identified a significant association between RA and risk of MetS, with an overall OR of 1.24 (95% CI, 1.03-1.50).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This meta-analysis provides further evidence supporting patients with RA have a higher prevalence of MetS than subjects without RA. In addition, the geographic region of the population and the criteria used for MetS diagnosis could influence the association. However, these observations would need to be evaluated using prospective, randomized studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Evidence-based Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Jianming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lingyu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Jingpu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yongze
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence