ArticleBMC musculoskeletal disorders2017
Rheumatoid factors do not predict cardiovascular disease and mortality in the general population in the Busselton Health Survey.
Article in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rheumatoid Factor Beyond Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Potential Marker of Cardiometabolic and Hepatic Risk.Biologics : targets & therapy · 2026Review
- Association between rheumatoid factor and metabolic syndrome in general population.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2022Article
- Cardiovascular Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Risk Factors, Autoantibodies, and the Effect of Antirheumatic Therapies.Clinical medicine insights. Arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRheumatoid Factors (RF) are antibodies directed against the Fc portion of IgG and are involved in clearance of immune complexes. While RF can develop in a wide range of conditions, higher RF levels indicate a greater risk for a severe disease course in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients including cardiovascular complications and premature death. We investigated whether RF also constitute a risk factor for these outcomes in the general population.
methodsWe included 2,323 participants (46% male, mean age 50 years) free of CVD at baseline in 1972. RF positivity was defined as a score of ≥2 by latex agglutination (scale 0-5). All outcomes during 42-year follow-up were obtained from state-wide registries. The predictive value of RF for coronary heart disease, all cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality was estimated by adjusted hazard ratios (HR) from Cox regression models.
resultsAfter adjustment for standard risk factors, RF positivity was not predictive of future CHD (HR 1.05, p = 0.61), CVD (HR 1,04, p = 0.63) or mortality (HR 1.03, p = 0.70) in the full CVD-free cohort. In an interaction model, RF in 41 out of 355 participants with an RA history was not predictive of CHD (HR 0.92, p = 0.77) or CVD events (HR 1.15, p = 0.51), but there was a borderline significant association with overall mortality (HR 1.41, CI 0.97-2.04, p = 0.07).
conclusionsRF detected by Latex agglutination do not independently predict future CHD, CVD or death in the general population. However, the presence of RF in the context of a history of RA is associated with a moderate, borderline significant increase in the long term adjusted risk for all-cause mortality.
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