Myostatin Levels and the Risk of Myopenia and Rheumatoid Cachexia in Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis
Table 3
Comparison of clinical characteristics between RA patients with and without cachexia in the univariable analysis.
RA+cachexia
RA+noncachectic
value
Age, median (range)
56 (42-80)
59 (18-89)
0.75
Menopause, (%)
28 (93)
104 (80)
0.07
Sedentary, (%)
20 (67)
85 (65)
0.85
BMI (kg/m2), median (range)
26.6 (23.1-29.4)
25.8 (16.5-39.5)
0.59
Disease duration, median (range)
13 (1-35)
10 (1-40)
0.75
Deteriorated functional class (II-IV), (%)
23 (77)
91 (70)
0.43
DAS 28, median (range)
3.13 (1.27-5.05)
2.93 (0.91-7.19)
0.29
DAS28-
14 (47)
46 (35)
0.24
SMI (kg/m2), median (range)
5.15 (4.29-6.03)
5.65 (2.69-9.53)
0.001
Low muscle mass, kg/m2, (%)
24 (80)
62 (47)
0.001
Myostatin (ng/mL), median (range)
17.59 (1.4-67.3)
11.4 (1.2-140)
0.52
High myostatin levels (≥17 ng/mL)
16 (53)
38 (29)
0.01
DAS28-ESR: Disease Activity Score (28 joints), Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate. DAS28- indicates moderate or severe disease activity in RA patients. SMI: Skeletal Muscle Index. 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.
