Long-Term Dietary Changes after Diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Swedish Women: Data from a Population-Based Cohort.

Objective: To investigate long-term dietary changes after rheumatoid arthritis (RA) diagnosis in Swedish women, compared to women without RA.

Methods: This study included 21,602 women from the Swedish Mammography Cohort (SMC), who completed dietary questionnaires in 1997 and 2009. Between 1997 and 2009, 191 women were diagnosed with RA.

Association between dietary and metabolic factors and IgM antibodies to phosphorylcholine and malondialdehyde in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and population-based matched controls.

Objectives: Immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies against phosphorylcholine (anti-PC) and malondialdehyde (anti-MDA) are implicated in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as markers with potential protective properties. Low IgM anti-PC levels are more common in SLE than in control population. Little is known what influences the levels of these antibodies.

Obesity is a strong predictor of worse clinical outcomes and treatment responses in early rheumatoid arthritis: results from the SWEFOT trial.

Objectives: The aim of this paper was to analyse the impact of obesity, in addition to known predictors, on disease outcome in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Body mass index (BMI) was available in 260 patients from the Swedish pharmacotherapy trial (SWEFOT). Differences in disease activity (DAS28), functional impairment (HAQ), pain (Visual Analogue Scale, VAS-pain) and radiographic damage were evaluated over 24 months between BMI categories (obese BMI >30, n=43; overweight BMI=25-29.

Are dietary vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids and folate associated with treatment results in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis? Data from a Swedish population-based prospective study.

Background: Dietary intake of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids (FA) may be associated with superior response to antirheumatic treatments. In addition, dietary folate intake may be associated with worse response to methotrexate (MTX). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between dietary vitamin D, omega-3 FA, folate and treatment results of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Dietary Intake of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Pain in Spite of Inflammatory Control Among Methotrexate-Treated Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients.

Objective: To investigate potential associations between dietary intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (FAs) and pain patterns in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients after 3 months of methotrexate (MTX) treatment.

Methods: We included 591 early RA patients with MTX monotherapy from a population-based prospective case-control study, the Epidemiological Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Dietary data on polyunsaturated FAs (food frequency questionnaires) were linked with data on unacceptable pain (visual analog scale [VAS] >40 mm), noninflammatory/refractory pain (VAS >40 mm and C-reactive protein [CRP] level <10 mg/liter), and inflammatory pain (VAS >40 mm and CRP level >10 mg/liter) after 3 months.