{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T17:45:10Z","timestamp":1788543910387,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,28]],"date-time":"2024-08-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1724803200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Abbot Nutrition"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients experience sarcopenia and decreased muscle mass and handgrip strength, leading to decreased quality of life and disability. The prevalence of RA varies across regions. This study aimed to evaluate the factors associated with RA in Croatian regional centres and explore correlations between clinical parameters and muscle strength. Materials and Methods: Included in this study were 267 stable RA patients from four Croatian clinical centres. The patients\u2019 mean age was 60.4 \u00b1 12.0 years, with 12.7% of them being male. For each study participant, information was gathered on their anthropometric characteristics, clinical and laboratory indicators, quality of life, disease activity, and sociodemographics. Results: The main results showed that in the female RA participants, the significant positive predictors are weight, height, exercise, VAS, and haemoglobin level. The negative predictors are the use of conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, the use of biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, the number of tender joints, the number of swollen joints, the estimated sedimentation rate, the C-reactive protein, the disease activity score, the parameters of the EQ5D, and being prescribed with three or more medications. In the male RA participants, significant predictors of muscle strength are only weight, height, and anxiety\/depression difficulties, according to the EQ5D. Conclusions: This study showed correlations between muscle strength and the parameters of disease activity, inflammation parameters, health-related quality of life, therapy, and exercise in the female RA participants in Croatia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina60091406","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,28]],"date-time":"2024-08-28T05:34:49Z","timestamp":1724823289000},"page":"1406","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Disease Activity, Inflammation Markers, and Quality of Life Are Associated with Muscle Strength in Croatian Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients\u2014A National-Based Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"60","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0350-6800","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mislav","family":"Radi\u0107","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine Department, Rheumatology, Allergology, and Clinical Immunology Division, Center of Excellence for Systemic Sclerosis in Croatia, University Hospital of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia"},{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ivan","family":"Vlak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with Rheumatology, University Hospital Split, 21000 Split, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marijana","family":"Vu\u010dkovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine Department, Nephrology and Dialysis Division, University Hospital Split, 21000 Split, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Senka","family":"Renduli\u0107 Slivar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Toplice Lipik, Special Hospital for Medical Rehabilitation, The Teaching Base of School of Medicine University of Osijek, 34551 Lipik, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mira","family":"Kadoji\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University Hospital Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Doris","family":"Stamenkovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dubravka","family":"Bobek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with Rheumatology, Dubrava University Hospital Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2645-7597","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Josipa","family":"Radi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia"},{"name":"Internal Medicine Department, Nephrology and Dialysis Division, University Hospital Split, 21000 Split, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9195-646X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Gelemanovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS), 21000 Split, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7848-6600","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrej","family":"Belan\u010di\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology with Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Bra\u0107e Branchetta 20, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1116-4655","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Erim","family":"Be\u0161i\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Department of Biophysics, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5415-7124","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tonko","family":"Vlak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with Rheumatology, University Hospital Split, 21000 Split, Croatia"},{"name":"Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102400","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jaut.2019.102400","article-title":"The etiology of rheumatoid arthritis","volume":"110","author":"Scherer","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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