Clinically relevant weight loss (≥5 kg) was associated with improved rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity in the routine clinical setting, according to a recent study. Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of RA patients seen at routine clinic visits at an academic medical center, from 2012-2015. They included patients who had ≥2 clinical disease activity index (CDAI) measures. They also identified visits during follow-up where the maximum and minimum weights occurred and defined weight change and CDAI change as the differences of these measures at these visits. Disease activity improvement was defined as CDAI decrease of ≥5 and clinically relevant weight loss as ≥5 kg. Data were analyzed from 174 RA patients with a median follow-up of 1.9 years; 117 (67%) were overweight/obese at baseline, and 53 (31%) lost ≥5 kg during follow-up. They found:

• Patients who were overweight/obese and lost ≥5 kg had 3-fold increased odds of disease activity improvement compared to those who did not.
• Among those who were overweight/obese at baseline, each kilogram weight loss was associated with CDAI improvement of 1.15.