Some nutritional parameters in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Its was our aim to appreciate the respective influence of age, sex, duration of disease, inflammatory status and treatment on protein markers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Serum albumin (SA), thyroxin-binding prealbumin (TBPA), transferrin and retinol-binding protein (RBP) were determined in 155 RA patients. Since the cut off, levels of these proteins are highly dependent on sex and age, several groups of sex- and age-matched normal controls were evaluated. The levels of SA (p < 0.03) and RBP (p < 0.002) were reduced in the women under 45 years of age. SA and RBP reached a nadir following one year of evolution. There were inverse correlations between SA and Lee's index (p < 0.01) and TBPA and Lee's (p < 0.05) and Ritchie's index (p < 0.01). Sa correlated inversely with the inflammatory status. The complex challenge of nutritional evaluation in RA patients is thus impossible to adequately portray and results should be interpreted with caution.