Gender-driven impact of obesity on disease activity in axial spondyloarthritis patients

Autores: Ana Luiza Shiomi, Anna Heloisa Tavares, Renato Nisihara, Rebeca Rebouças Pereira, Thelma Skare

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Introduction:
Obesity triggers inflammation and worsens rheumatic diseases. Few studies have addressed this issue in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA).

Objectives:
To evaluate the body composition and its influence on inflammatory parameters of axSpA according to sex.

Materials and methods:
Sixty axSpA patients (30 males and 30 females) had body composition, lean, and fat body mass assessed by bioimpedance. BASDAI and ASDAS were used to evaluate disease activity, and BASFI was used to evaluate physical function.

Results:
Of the 60 patients included, 59 (98.3%) had fat mass above the normal and lean mass under the normal range. Females had lower lean mass than males, higher disease activity, and worse functional scores.

In males, both fat and lean mass correlate with ASDAS (r 0.41; r -0.39, respectively) and BASFI (r 0.53 and r -0.60), while there were no correlations in females.

Conclusions:
Females had worse disease activity and functional indexes than males. The increased body fat correlated with disease activity and functional indexes in male patients.