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Background: Diet quality playing an important role in the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) management. There is currently conflicting data on the benefits of Mediterranean diet (MD) in RA, and there is insufficient evidence to suggest a function of MD in the prevention and treatment of RA 1-3. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the nutritional status of patients with RA, to assess adherence to the MD and to determine its relationship with disease activity. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with patients diagnosed with RA who applied to the rheumatology outpatient clinic at the University Hospital. The study population consisted of 74 participants aged 28-64 years who had been diagnosed with RA according to the 2010 ACR/EULAR classification criteria. A questionnaire form was applied to the participants by face-to-face interview method. The 24-hour dietary recall method was used to assess participants' dietary intake. The MD Adherence Screener was used to assess participants' adherence to the MD. The Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) was used to assess participants' functional status. The DAS28 Disease Activity Score was used to determine disease activity. Results: Of the total number of RA patients, 21.6% were classified as high adherers to the MD (33.8% moderate and 44.6% poor). Half of the participants (51.4%) were taking corticosteroids (prednisone), and the majority (89.5%) were using the 4 mg dose. When the disease activity of the study participants was assessed using the DAS28 score; more than half of the participants (51.4%) had moderate disease activity. The median percentage of carbohydrate intake was higher in patients with low adherence to the MD 50.0 (41.5-59.5) than in those with moderate adherence 44.0 (35.5-53.0) (p=0.021). The mean percentage of fat intake was lower in those with low MD adherence 32.2±10.36 than those with moderate adherence 40.1±8.49 (p=0.021). The mean dietary fiber intake of participants with high adherers (25.0±9.65 g) was significantly higher than that of participants with low (17.6±8.40 g) and moderate adherers (18.0±8.73 g) (p2, potassium, and iron (pConclusion: About half of the patients with RA were found to have a low adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The consumption of dietary fiber could suppress disease activity in RA patients. Further research is needed to investigate the therapeutic ability of the diet. REFERENCES: 1 Cutolo M, Nikiphorou E. Nutrition and Diet in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Nutrients 2022, 14(4): 888. 2 Cassotta M, Forbes-Hernandez T.Y, Cianciosi D, et al. Nutrition and Rheumatoid Arthritis in the 'Omics' Era. Nutrients 2021, 13(3): 763. 3 Gioia C, Lucchino B, Tarsitano MG, et al. Dietary habits and nutrition in rheumatoid arthritis: can diet influence disease development and clinical manifestations? Nutrients. 2020;12(5):1456. DAS28: Disease Activity Score in 28 joints with ESR, ESR: Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate, HAQ: Health Assessment Questionnaire, MD: Mediterranean Diet ⁑Spearman correlation, ₸Pearson correlation The bold values indicate significance at pAcknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: None declared.
Kaner et al. (Sat,) studied this question.