One of the main risk factors for osteoarthritis is having a higher body mass index (BMI). However, a recent study indicates that being overweight also increases a person’s risk of developing an inflammatory joint disease like rheumatoid arthritis.
Nearly 362,000 persons from the UK Biobank, a sizable biomedical database, participated in the study, which was published online by the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology on May 23, 2023. Rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, gout, and inflammatory spondylitis (a form of spinal arthritis) were the five joint conditions that researchers examined in relation to participants’ BMI, a measure of body size that takes height and weight into account. The majority of joint illnesses, aside from osteoarthritis, are caused by inflammation.
Rheumatoid arthritis (52%), osteoarthritis (49%), psoriatic arthritis (80%), gout (73%), and inflammatory spondylitis (34%) were more common in participants with BMIs that were significantly higher than the “normal” BMI range of 18.5 to 24.9. The authors of the study came to the conclusion that controlling weight can assist lower the risk of having a joint illness.