Smoking Functions as a Negative Regulator of IGF1 and Impairs Adipokine Network in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Figure 2

The correlations between serum levels of leptin and clinical parameters of RA in the smoking groups. The bars represent the correlation coefficients for the disease activity score (DAS28) (a), VAS-pain (b), and adipokine levels in serum (c, d) in RA patients grouped by smoking habits into smokers (Sm), former smokers (FSm), and never smokers (NSm). The correlations were analysed by the Spearman statistics. The Fisher’s -to- test was used to compare the magnitude of the correlation coefficients between Sm and NSm. The values below 0.01 are indicated ().

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