Myostatin Levels and the Risk of Myopenia and Rheumatoid Cachexia in Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis
Table 1
comparison between selected characteristics of patients with RA vs controls.
RA
Controls
value
Age, median (range)
58 (18-89)
59 (36-73)
0.55
117 (73)
54 (75)
0.71
Employee, (%)
44 (70)
19 (30)
0.88
Menopause, (%)
132 (82)
60 (83)
0.80
Sedentary, (%)
105 (65)
37 (51)
0.05
Weight (kg), median (range)
63.0 (39.5-96.0)
69.6 (52.8-96.6)
<0.001
Height (cm), median (range)
155 (137-170)
155 (142-171)
0.50
BMI (kg/m2), median (range)
26.3 (16.5-39.5)
28.3 (20.8-42.1)
<0.001
Arterial hypertension, (%)
55 (70)
24 (33)
0.90
SMI (kg/m2)
5.44 (2.69-9.53)
6.58 (5.5-10.73)
<0.001
Low muscle mass ( kg/m2), (%)
86 (53)
0 (0)
NA
FFMI (kg/m2)
13.7 (9.7-23.5)
15.7 (12.6-20.5)
<0.001
FMI (kg/m2)
12.2 (4.1-21.7)
13.2 (7.9-23.2)
0.004
Rheumatoid cachexia, (%)
30 (19)
NA
NA
Myostatin (ng/mL)
11.89 (1.2-140)
7.9 (1.2-19.6)
<0.001
High myostatin (≥17 ng/mL)
54 (34)
3 (4)
<0.001
BMI: body mass index (kg/m2); SMI: skeletal muscle index; FFMI: fat-free mass index; FMI: fat mass index; NA: not applicable. Quantitative variables expressed in medians and ranges and compared by Mann–Whitney tests; qualitative variables expressed in frequency and (%) and compared by chi-square tests.
