title: Nutritional profile in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Atherosclerosis in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients may be aggravated by obesity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the nutritional status of patients with RA.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational cross sectional study of 102 RA. Patients were studied for clinical, demographic, serologic, activity and nutritional profile. In the latter we included: measurement of body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio; bicipital skinfold (BSF) and their adequacy; triceps skinfold measure (TSF) and its adequacy and arm muscle circumference (AMC) and its adequacy. Association studies of nominal data were done using Fisher and chi-square tests and the Mann Whitney and unpaired Student t tests for numerical data. For correlation calculations the Spearman test was used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the sample there were 14/102 men, 88/102 women with mean age of 52.1 ± 11.5 years and mean disease duration of 10.6 ± 7.47 years. The mean waist-hip ratio was 0.92 ± 0.07. According to BMI 30.3% had normal weight and 65.5% a total weight above normal. According to BSF, 74.5% were normal and 25.5% had depletion of muscular mass; according to TSF, 83.3% were normal and 16.7% depleted. Association of nutritional variables with gender, rheumatoid factor, age, nodules, and disease activity showed no differences (p = NS) except for a lower waist/hip ratio in individuals with nodules (p = 0.02) and a modest correlation of TSF with disease duration (p = 0.02; R = 0.22; 95% CI = 0.01 to 0.40).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found a high prevalence of overweight and obesity in patients with RA and a small frequency of muscle depletion.
authors.affiliation: Nutrition School, Faculdade Evangélica do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Rachel Simone Maccarini
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Zarpellon
authors.affiliation: Nutrition School, Faculdade Evangélica do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Marcia Messaggi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Unit, Hospital Universitário Evangélico de Curitiba, Curitiba, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Thelma L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Skare
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D055815:Young Adult