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Blood Fats Linked to Rheumatoid Arthritis

Posted on: Monday, 5 June 2006, 18:00 CDT

An unfavorable ratio of blood fats may predict the development of the inflammatory joint disease rheumatoid arthritis 10 years later, a Dutch study found.

The researchers analyzed the fat content of 1,078 deep frozen blood samples from 79 people who had given blood between 1984 and 1999 to a Netherlands blood bank and subsequently went on to develop rheumatoid arthritis 10 or more years later.

They found that the samples of people who subsequently developed rheumatoid arthritis had a more unfavorable balance of circulating blood fats than the samples of those who did not develop the disease.

On average, those who developed rheumatoid arthritis had a total cholesterol that was 4 percent higher, while high-density lipoprotein -- good cholesterol -- levels were 9 percent lower and triglycerides were 17 percent higher, according to the study published in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.

Taken together, these the findings also indicate an increased risk of ischaemic heart disease, in which the artery walls are thickened and hardened by fat deposits, the authors said.

Source: United Press International

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