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Healio
September 28, 2015
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High sodium intake may be linked to rheumatoid arthritis

Individuals who self-reported a high level of sodium content in their diets were more likely to have rheumatoid arthritis, according to a recently published report.

Researchers analyzed data from 18,555 participants enrolled in the SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra) cohort launched in 1999 by the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health of the University of Navarra, Spain. Participants returned questionnaires regarding medical history, physician-diagnosed health conditions, diet, lifestyle and sociodemographic data, BMI and physical activity. Women who consumed between 800 and 3,500 kilocalories per day and men who consumed between 800 and 4,000 kilocalories per day were included, and self-reported daily consumption of 136 individual food and pinches of salt used to calculate each participants’ daily sodium intake.

In logistic analysis, the amount of dietary sodium consumed per day was associated with an increase in the odds for self-reported rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Multivariate logistic modeling adjusted for age, sex, total energy intake, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, BMI smoking, participation in a restricted diet and other factors showed the association continued. The trend was linear and dose-dependent, according to the researchers.

Sodium intake and smoking were shown to have an interaction in a likelihood ratio test. A significant OR in the third and fourth quartiles was seen in multivariate logistic regression models stratified by smoking status compared to the first quartile of sodium intake among never smokers.

A continued association between total daily sodium ingestion and the presence of RA in the fourth quartile and an OR of 1.6 for RA was revealed in sensitivity analysis. A subset of 392 patients with RA was case-control matched for age and sex with 1,568 individuals without RA. Logistic, multivariate analyses showed a statistically significant association between RA and the fourth quartile of sodium intake compared to the first quartile. The association remained significant after adjustment for daily energy intake. – by Shirley Pulawski

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

Sources/Disclosures

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Source:

Salgado E, et al. Medicine. 2015;doi:10.1097/MD.00000000000009.