Higher systemic immune-inflammation index scores predict rheumatoid arthritis risk
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Key takeaways:
- Systemic immune-inflammation index scores may help predict development of rheumatoid arthritis.
- Scores exceeding the cutoff value result in much greater risk.
Systemic immune-inflammation index scores may act as an important indicator of a patients’ risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.
“The systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) may be useful in assessing the severity and progression of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PA),” Bo Liu, MD, of the department of orthopedics at Beijing Ditan Hospital, in China, colleagues wrote. “In people with higher SII levels, the immune system is in a constant state of activation, leading to chronic inflammation in the joints and other tissues. This inflammation can damage cartilage and bone, causing pain and difficulty moving.
“Satis, S. et al. found that the SII levels were significantly higher in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared to healthy controls and that SII were correlated with the severity of the disease,” they added. “These findings suggest that the SII may be a useful tool for monitoring inflammation and disease activity in patients with RA.”
To examine the relationship between systemic immune-inflammatory index scores and rheumatoid arthritis development, Liu and colleagues analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database from 1999 to 2018, which includes information from approximately 5,000 participants each year. Surveys included data on demographics and diet, physical examinations, laboratory results and questionnaire answers.
For the purposes of the analysis, Liu and colleagues calculated systemic immune-inflammation index scores as platelet count multiplied by neutrophil count, divided by lymphocyte count. RA diagnoses were determined via self-reported survey questions.
The analysis included a total of 37,604 patients, among whom 7.03% reported having RA. According to the researchers, after adjusting for all covariates the multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that high scores on the systemic immune-inflammatory index were associated with an increased risk for RA (OR = 1.167; 95% CI, 1.025-1.328). The cutoff value for RA was 578.25, and the risk for RA increased “rapidly” when the index score exceeded that value, according to the researchers.
“Our study provides new insights into the relationship between rheumatoid arthritis and SII,” Liu and colleagues wrote. “In general, there is a positive correlation between SII and rheumatoid arthritis. The SII cut-off (578.25) has a certain clinical application value. Our study shows that SII is a novel, valuable, and convenient inflammatory marker that can be used to predict the risk of rheumatoid arthritis in adults. Low cost and easy to collect and calculate are the advantages of SII. We hope that the SII will become a good evaluation index for predicting cancer prognosis and evaluating disease activity.
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