Effects of Tofacitinib on Body Composition, Bone Mineral Density and Bone Marrow Adiposity in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis: the TOFAT Project

Inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD), such as rheumatoid arthritis, are characterized by adverse changes in body composition. Lean mass and bone mineral density are usually reduced while adiposity (total fat mass, visceral adiposity…) is increased in comparison with healthy controls. Many factors may influence the body composition of those patients such as aging, Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (DMARDs), nutrition and physical activity. However, data on body composition and adverse changes under DMARDs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are actually scarce. This is the case with tofacitinib (targeted synthetic DMARD or tsDMARD) while preliminary data let us think that this treatment may influence body composition and bone mineral density. This study is going to be the first to focus on changes in body composition (fat mass and lean mass), bone mineral density and bone marrow adiposity under tofacitinib.