الفهرس 
Introduction
Chapter I: Effect of obesity on musculoskeletal systemOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Human obesity is characterized by increased plasma leptin concentrations. Samad et al., (1999), found that the elevated plasma leptin concentrations in morbidly obese patients may enhance constitutive immunological stimuli, leading to increased concentrations of acute phase proteins and other inflammatory markers, characteristic for a chronic inflammatory state.
The paradigm that obesity predisposes people to OA because of extra-mechanical loading only has shifted to the paradigm that metabolic factors (adipokines) are also involved in the pathophysiology of OA and hand joints are an ideal target to investigate the role of adipokines since they are not weight-bearing joints (Cicuttini F et al., 1996, Massengale M et al., 2012).
Also, Eric Matteson., 2012, at the Mayo Clinic found that obese individuals were 25 percent more likely to develop RA than people of normal weight. He assumes that the fat cells that stoke the fire of inflammation and concluded that drugs used to treat RA generally don’t work very well in obese patients, but losing weight also generally makes the drugs work better.
The aim of the current study was to assess the impact of obesity and its parameters on OA and RA as regard inflammatory markers (h.s CRP &serum leptin), disease activity and disease severity.
The present study included 84 patients who were classified into three groups: group I; included 36 patients (42%) with OA which further subdivided in to two subgroups obese and non obese OA patients & group II; included 36 patients (42%) with RA and subdivided in to two subgroups obese and non obese RA patients& group III; included 12 (16%) of healthy non obese individuals as control group.
All patients were subjected to full history taking, thorough clinical examination, laboratory investigation, radiological assessment, assessment of disease activity and severity in O.A patients and in R.A patients by standard functional and radiological scores.
Obese patients with non rheumatological diseases and Rheumatological diseased patients with other chronic systemic illness as diabetes mellitus, hypertension were excluded from our study.