Functional Disability to Evaluate the Risk of Arthritis in First-degree Relatives of Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

The events that occur prior to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) continue to be delineated. We examined the relationship between self-reported joint symptoms, functional disability, and anticitrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) status in a cohort of first-degree relatives (FDR) of patients with...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of rheumatology 2022-03, Vol.49 (3), p.244-250
Main Authors: Wiens, Dana, Smolik, Irene, Meng, Xiaobo, Anaparti, Vidyanand, El-Gabalawy, Hani S, O'Neil, Liam J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arthritis, Rheumatoid - diagnosis
Autoantibodies
Cohort Studies
Humans
Peptides, Cyclic
Synovitis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The events that occur prior to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) continue to be delineated. We examined the relationship between self-reported joint symptoms, functional disability, and anticitrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) status in a cohort of first-degree relatives (FDR) of patients with RA who are at risk of future disease development. We studied a cohort of 279 FDR of First Nations (FN) patients with RA who are at increased risk for future RA development, and analyzed data collected at their enrollment study visit. In parallel, we analyzed data from 279 FN subjects with no family history of RA. A subset of FDR developed inflammatory arthritis and we analyzed longitudinal data in this group. The prevalence of joint symptoms and functional disability was higher in FDR compared to non-FDR (all < 0.001). Difficulty walking (37.3% vs 18.0%) and modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) results were higher in ACPA-positive FDR compared to ACPA-negative FDR, and HAQ was independently associated with ACPA seropositivity (OR 2.79, 95% CI 1.56-5.00). Longitudinally, in individuals who developed ACPA-positive RA, ACPA level and HAQ score were significantly associated ( = 0.45, < 0.001) in the preclinical period. Compared to population-based controls, FDR have a high burden of joint symptoms and functional disability. Functional disability was most closely associated with ACPA seropositivity in the FDR, suggesting a direct role for ACPA outside of the context of clinically detectable synovitis. HAQ appears to be particularly valuable in the assessment of individuals at risk for future RA development.
ISSN:0315-162X
1499-2752
DOI:10.3899/jrheum.210614