Body composition and serum fetuin-A levels in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
						
						Evgeniy V. Papichev, Boris V. Zavodovsky, Larisa E. Sivordova, Yuri R. Akhverdyan, Yulia V. Polyakova, Irina A. Zborovskaya 
						Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology named after A.B. Zborovsky, Volgograd, Russia e_papichev@mail.ru 
													Keywords: ревматоидный артрит, ревматическая кахексия, композитный состав тела, фетуин-А, костная ткань, тощая ткань, жировая ткань, индекс жировой массы, индекс безжировой массы, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid cachexia, body composition, fetuin-A, bone tissue, lean tissue, fat tissue, fat mass index, fat-free mass index 
																		
																					 Abstract 
								Background. Rheumatoid 
cachexia is a pathological condition which appears in patients with 
rheumatoid arthritis with low fat-free mass and normal or high body mass
 index. Bone mass loss is one of the components of rheumatoid cachexia. 
Fetuin-A, a major noncollagen protein of bone tissue, regulates bone 
remodeling. Aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of 
rheumatoid cachexia and the association of serum fetuin-A level with 
body composition components in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. 
Material and methods. 110 patients (8 male and 102 female) with 
rheumatoid arthritis were enrolled in our study. Serum fetuin-A level 
was determined by ELISA. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry with Total 
Body program was performed. The diagnosis of rheumatoid cachexia was 
based on the next criteria: fat-free mass index less than 10th 
percentiles with fat mass index above 25th percentiles. Results and 
discussion. We observed rheumatoid cachexia in 25 patients (22,7 %). 
According to the literature, such patients have an increased risk of 
developing metabolic syndrome, arterial hypertension and mortality. 
Positive significant ( p < 0,05) correlations were observed between 
serum fetuin-A levels and right and left lower limb, trunk, gynoid 
region, both lower limbs and total body bone mass. No statistically 
significant relationships with other indicators were identified. 
Fetuin-A negative dynamic in patients with rheumatoid arthritis may be 
accompanied by the loss of bone mass, which requires the improvement of 
therapeutic approach. Conclusions. Almost a quarter of patients with 
rheumatoid arthritis have rheumatic cachexia. Positive correlation 
between serum fetuin-A levels and lower limbs, trunk, gynoid region and 
total body bone mass was observed. 
																			                        																														
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