Table 3_Associations of systemic inflammatory indices with rheumatoid arthritis and all-cause mortality: a NHANES study with independent hospital-based replication.xlsx

An independent retrospective hospital-based cohort was used to assess the directional consistency of key RA-related associations.</p>Results<p>Among 15,545 participants, 1,075 had self-reported RA. In the fully adjusted models, participants in the highest RAR quartile had greater odds of prevalent self-reported RA than those in the lowest quartile (OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.33–2.60), whereas higher CALLY was inversely associated with RA (Q4 vs. Q1: OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.43–0.78); both associations remained significant after FDR correction.

Among participants with self-reported RA, higher RAR was associated with a greater hazard of all-cause mortality (Q4 vs. Q1: HR, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.62–3.77), whereas higher CALLY was associated with a lower mortality hazard (Q4 vs. Q1: HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.31–0.61), with both associations remaining significant after FDR correction. Restricted cubic spline analyses suggested nonlinear associations for several inflammatory indices.

In the independent hospital-based cohort, several key RA-related inflammatory indices showed directionally consistent associations, supporting the reproducibility of the principal RA-related findings.</p>Conclusion<p>RAR and CALLY showed the most consistent associations with both prevalent RA and all-cause mortality. These accessible inflammatory indices may warrant further evaluation as markers of systemic inflammatory and nutritional status in RA, but prospective validation is needed before clinical application.</p>