Evidence mapPaperPMID 41783145Full record

SynthesisFrontiers in medicine2025

Association of body mass index with the risk of rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Fei Cao, Xiaohong Kang, Weizhuo Wang, Shengli Huang

Abstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Frontiers in medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Fei CaoDepartment of Orhopedics, The Second Affliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
Xiaohong KangDepartment of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan Medical University, Xinxiang, China.
Weizhuo WangDepartment of Orhopedics, The Second Affliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
Shengli HuangDepartment of Orhopedics, The Second Affliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease of unknown etiology. Numerous studies have investigated the association between body mass index (BMI) and RA risk, but findings have been inconsistent. Objective: This study aims to comprehensively evaluate the association between different BMI categories and RA risk using a meta-analytic approach. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library from inception until September 2025 for observational studies investigating the association between BMI and RA onset. A random-effects model was used to calculate pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between different BMI categories and RA risk. The robustness of the findings was evaluated through sensitivity analyses, subgroup analyses, and assessment of publication bias. Results: This meta-analysis included 20 observational studies (8 cohort and 12 case-control studies) with a total sample size of 568,889. Our findings indicated no significant association between underweight and RA risk (OR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.70-1.01, Conclusion: This study demonstrates that overweight and obesity are robustly associated with a significantly increased risk of developing RA, particularly among females. In contrast, the association between underweight and RA risk remains inconclusive and warrants further investigation. Systematic review registration: INPLASY (Registration Number: INPLASY2025110039).

Indexed as

body mass indexmeta-analysisrheumatoid arthritisrisksystematic review

Identifiers

PMID41783145
PMCPMC12953552

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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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.