ArticleClinical rheumatology2026
Biological/targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs improve not only muscle mass but also phase angle in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Article in Clinical rheumatology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Longitudinal Course of Muscle Status in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis.International journal of rheumatic diseases · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThis study investigated whether treatment with biological/targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (b/tsDMARD) affects muscle mass and phase angle in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Additionally, whether these improvements were a direct effect of the b/tsDMARD treatment, an indirect effect mediated by improved disease activity and glucocorticoid reduction, or both was clarified.
methodsData from 104 weeks of a prospective study comparing b/tsDMARD (n = 76) and conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (csDMARD) treatments (n = 71) on body composition in RA patients were used. The phase angle measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis was used to evaluate muscle quality. Changes in body composition, including phase angle, were compared between the groups. We also examined the results using the mode of action. Parallel mediation analysis was used to investigate the effects of the b/tsDMARD treatment.
resultsBaseline median age and disease duration were 69.0 and 4.5 years, respectively. Changes (Δ) in muscle mass and phase angle were significantly higher in the b/tsDMARD group than the csDMARD group (0.4 kg vs. - 0.3 kg: p < 0.001 and 0.02° vs. - 0.06°: p = 0.047, respectively). There were no significant differences in the change in muscle mass or phase angle when examined using the mode of action. On parallel mediation analysis, the b/tsDMARD usage showed a significant direct effect on Δmuscle mass and Δphase angle (p = 0.012 and p = 0.047, respectively). Indirect effects via ΔDAS28-ESR (p = 0.510 and p = 0.695, respectively) and Δglucocorticoid dosage (p = 0.816 and p = 0.552, respectively) were not statistically significant.
conclusionsTreatment with b/tsDMARD improved muscle mass and phase angle by blocking inflammatory cytokines and JAK-STAT signaling. Key Points • This study is the first to report that b/tsDMARD treatment is effective not only for increasing muscle mass but also for improving phase angle. • These effects appear to be primarily direct, rather than mediated through disease activity improvement or glucocorticoid reduction. • There were no significant differences in muscle mass gain or phase angle improvement when examined using the mode of action.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41168624What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.