Neutrophilia linked to renal Impairment in rheumatoid arthritis Patients

In this cross-sectional, retrospective study, the researchers investigated a total of 602 RA patients and identified 89 patients who had renal impairment with eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m2. The researchers evaluated the neutrophil levels and, the major outcome assessed was eGFR. They further collected demographic details, blood markers, lipid indexes, and inflammatory indexes for this analysis. They used multivariable logistic regression analysis to evaluate the association between neutrophils and renal impairment in RA participants.

Key findings of the study were:

• Upon analysis, the researchers found that the renal damage group had 75 (84.3%), female patients, with 31 (34.8%) suffering from hypertension and 12 (13.5%) from diabetes.
• Upon subgroup analysis, they found that

◊ Female (odds ratio [OR] = 0.523),

◊ Neutrophils greater thsn 7.5 × 109/L (OR = 2.314),

◊ NLR > 3.53 (OR = 1.757), h

◊ Hemoglobin less than 120 g/L (OR = 2.413), and

◊ UA > 360 μmol/L (OR = 6.052) was related to renal damage in RA.

• After adjustment of several confounders, multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that neutrophils greater than 7.5 × 109/L (OR = 1.784) were independently associated with an increased risk of renal impairment in RA.

The authors concluded, "Our study demonstrated that neutrophils greater than 7.5 × 109/L was associated with a high risk of renal impairment in RA, suggesting that neutrophil may be a biomarker for renal impairment in RA."

For further information:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/iid3.459