SOME NUTRITIONAL PARAMETERS IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS

Its was our aim to appreciate the respective influence of age, sex, du ration of disease, inflammatory status and treatment on protein marker s in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Serum albumin (SA), thyr oxin-binding prealbumin (TBPA), transferrin and retinol-binding protei n (REP) 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 REP (p < 0.002) were reduced in the women under 45 y ears of age, SA and REP reached a nadir following one year of evolutio n. There were inverse correlations between SA and Lee's index (p < 0.0 1) and TBPA and Lee's (p < 0.05) and Ritchie's index (p < 0.01). Sa co rrelated inversely with the inflammatory status. The complex challenge of nutritional evaluation in RA patients is thus impossible to adequa tely portray and results should be interpreted with caution.