{
  "abstract": "Cardiometabolic risk is increased in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but early risk may remain unrecognized before overt metabolic abnormalities emerge. Whether neutrophil-associated inflammation can help identify this latent risk and its potential molecular link remains unclear. We analyzed 1,028 patients with RA to examine factors associated with elevated triglyceride-glucose body mass index (TyG-BMI) and developed machine learning models using routinely available clinical variables to distinguish patients in the highest (Q4) and lowest (Q1) TyG-BMI quartiles. An exploratory 12-month follow-up assessment was also conducted. Transcriptomic analyses identified candidate neutrophil-related markers, which were subsequently evaluated in an independent prospective multicenter cohort of 502 patients. Neutrophil count remained independently associated with elevated TyG-BMI after full multivariable adjustment and additional adjustment for antirheumatic medication use (OR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.08–1.27; P < 0.001). The selected logistic regression model achieved an AUC of 0.829 in the internal validation set for distinguishing the Q4 and Q1 TyG-BMI groups. Among patients without overt cardiometabolic disease and with normal baseline metabolic indicators, newly reported physician-diagnosed cardiometabolic conditions during the 12-month follow-up were reported by 21.3% of Q4 participants and 10.7% of Q1 participants (RR = 1.98, 95% CI 1.02–3.87; P = 0.044). Transcriptomic analyses identified lipocalin-2 (LCN2) as a candidate molecular link. In the prospective cohort, adding LCN2 modestly increased the AUC from 0.799 to 0.812 (DeLong P = 0.286); net reclassification improvement (NRI) was not significant, whereas integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) improved significantly ( P = 0.008). Exploratory mediation analysis yielded an estimated mediated proportion of 25.8% ( P < 0.001). Neutrophil-associated inflammation may help identify latent cardiometabolic risk in RA, with LCN2 emerging as a potential molecular link and complementary biomarker.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Tong Xin"
    },
    {
      "name": "Che Wang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yurui Wang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Fan Gong"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yanxia Zhao"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jingjing He"
    },
    {
      "name": "Xiaoping Wang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Daqing Nie"
    },
    {
      "name": "Guorong Jin"
    },
    {
      "name": "Aijing Liu"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ans04y6gk408b.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41598-026-73963-0",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "ans04y6gk408b",
  "issns": [
    "2045-2322"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-73963-0",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2745|Rheumatoid Arthritis Research and Therapies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220935969",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-73963-0_reference.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-08",
  "publisher": "Springer Science and Business Media LLC",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ans04y6gk408b.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:24Z",
      "native_id": "10.1038/s41598-026-73963-0",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-73963-0"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2745|Rheumatoid Arthritis Research and Therapies",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Neutrophils and lipocalin-2 in triglyceride-glucose body mass index-related cardiometabolic risk among patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a multicenter study",
  "title_text": "Neutrophils and lipocalin-2 in triglyceride-glucose body mass index-related cardiometabolic risk among patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a multicenter study",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:24Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ans04y6gk408b",
  "venue": "Scientific Reports",
  "versions": []
}