ABSTRACT
The aim is to assess metabolic disturbance in early rheumatoid arthritis patients and its relation to the clinical characteristics of patients. Forty recently diagnosed untreated rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with disease duration less than 1 year (group I) along with age- and sex-matched forty healthy volunteers who served as controls (group II) were studied. Disease activity score was used to assess disease activity. Blood pressure, BMI, glucose, insulin and complete lipid profile, visfatin, and adiponectin were measured. Insulin resistance (IR) was estimated by the homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Beta-cell function was estimated by the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-B). Also, rheumatoid factor, anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies were measured. Group I had significantly higher fasting insulin, HOMA-(IR, B), visfatin, lipid profile (except HDL), and lower adiponectin versus group II (p = 0.000). There were significant positive correlations between visfatin and the following biochemical parameters: insulin, HOMA-IR, HOMA-B, cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-C (p = 0.05, 0.029, 0.005, 0.001, 0.002, 0.045, respectively). Also, the disease activity score was positively correlated with visfatin (p = 0.003). Meanwhile, there were significant negative correlations between adiponectin and the following biochemical parameters: insulin, HOMA-IR, HOMA-B, cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-C, visfatin (p = 0.031, 0.023, 0.001, 0.000, 0.000, 0.016, 0.000, respectively). Also, the disease activity score was negatively correlated with adiponectin (p = 0.001). The findings of the present study showed that recently diagnosed untreated RA patients are characterized by a severe metabolic disturbance state that is driven primarily by disease activity.