The Association of Body Mass Index with the Severity of Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Detected Inflammation at Presentation; Opposite Effects in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Compared to Other Arthritides and an Asymptomatic Population

L. Mangnus¹, W.P. Nieuwenhuis², H.W. van Steenbergen², T.W.J. Huizinga³, M. Reijnierse⁴ and A.H.M. van der Helm-van Mil², ¹Rheumatology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands, ²Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands, ³Department of Rheumatology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands, ⁴Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands

Meeting: 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Date of first publication: September 28, 2016

Keywords: body mass, Inflammation, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

Session Information

Date: Sunday, November 13, 2016

Title: Rheumatoid Arthritis – Clinical Aspects - Poster I: Clinical Characteristics/Presentation/Prognosis

Session Type: ACR Poster Session A

Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM

Background/Purpose: An increased body mass index (BMI) has been associated with slightly increased inflammatory markers in the population. Within rheumatoid arthritis (RA) a high BMI has been associated with less radiographic progression; this phenomenon is unexplained. We explored the hypothesis that the association between BMI and inflammation detected with MRI is different in directionality in RA compared to patients with other arthritides and asymptomatic volunteers.

Methods: We studied 195 RA patients and 159 patients with other inflammatory arthritides at inclusion in the Leiden Early Arthritis Clinic cohort and 193 asymptomatic volunteers from the general population. All participants underwent a unilateral contrast-enhanced 1.5T MRI of MCP, wrist and MTP-joints. Each MRI was scored by two readers on synovitis, BME and tenosynovitis; the sum of these yielded the total MRI-inflammation score. Linear regression models were used.

Results: A higher BMI was associated with higher MRI-inflammation scores in arthritides other than RA (β=1.082, p<0.001) and asymptomatic volunteers (β=1.029, p=0.040), whereas it was associated with lower MRI-inflammation scores in RA (β=0.969, p=0.005). Evaluating the different types of inflammation separately showed that a higher BMI was associated with higher synovitis, BME and tenosynovitis-scores in arthritides other than RA (respectively β=1.084, p<0.001, β=1.021, p=0.24 and β=1.054, p=0.003), but with lower synovitis and BME scores in RA (respectively β=0.976, p=0.047 and β=0.954, p=0.002).

Conclusion: BMI is correlated with less severe MRI detected inflammation (synovitis and BME) in RA. This might explain the previous finding that BMI is correlated with less severe radiographic progression in RA.

Disclosure: L. Mangnus, None; W. P. Nieuwenhuis, None; H. W. van Steenbergen, None; T. W. J. Huizinga, None; M. Reijnierse, None; A. H. M. van der Helm-van Mil, None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Mangnus L, Nieuwenhuis WP, van Steenbergen HW, Huizinga TWJ, Reijnierse M, van der Helm-van Mil AHM. The Association of Body Mass Index with the Severity of Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Detected Inflammation at Presentation; Opposite Effects in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Compared to Other Arthritides and an Asymptomatic Population [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016; 68 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/the-association-of-body-mass-index-with-the-severity-of-magnetic-resonance-imaging-detected-inflammation-at-presentation-opposite-effects-in-early-rheumatoid-arthritis-compared-to-other-arthrit/. Accessed .

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