Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has an indirect effect on body composition. Body mass index (BMI) is not a valid predictor of body fat in RA patients.
To evaluate the accuracy of BMI in identifying obesity diagnosed according to dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in well-controlled RA patients.
An observational, cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical study. We used 3 different cutoffs for obesity as determined by DXA: >35% total fat, >40% total fat, and >35% central fat mass (central obesity).
One hundred one patients were included. We found that 35% total fat corresponded to a BMI of 24kg/m
Obesity according to DXA was underdiagnosed when the classic BMI cutoffs were used in well-controlled RA patients.