Does Rheumatoid Arthritis Cause an Obesity Paradox? Comment on the study by Sparks et al.

We read with interest the article by Sparks et al. evaluating the association between weight changes in the peri-diagnosis period with mortality among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (1). In this study, the investigators clearly show that weight loss is an important predictor of early mortality both in RA and non-RA patients. Indeed, and perhaps not surprisingly, unintentional weight loss is likely to be a poor prognostic sign regardless of its cause. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.