Abstract:Objective To investigate the change of blood glucose level in patients with rheumatoid arthritis(RA) complicated with diabetes mellitus (DM) and its influence on disease activity. Methods Ninety RA patients with DM treated from June 2015 to May 2019 were selected and divided into observation group and control group according to the blood glucose levels (n=45, each).The levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), C-reactive protein (CRP), rheumatoid factor (RF) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were detected, and the disease activity score-28 (DAS28) in RA was evaluated in two groups.Pearson correlation was used to analyze the associations of FBG and HbA1c with CRP, ESR and DAS28. Results The levels of FBG ［(8.08±3.30) mmol/L vs (6.72±2.10)mmol/L］ and HbA1c［(8.30±2.50)% vs (6.91±1.21)%］in observation group were statistically higher than those in control group (P<0.05, P<0.01).The levels of CRP, RF, ESR and DAS28 score were (39.89±15.35)mg/L, (36.78±8.56)IU/ml, (42.84±14.06) mm/h and 5.90±1.82, respectively, in observation group, and they were(30.38±14.42)mg/L, (31.01±8.35)IU/ml, (28.23±10.08)mm/h and 4.16±1.11, respectively, in control group, and there were statistical differences between two groups (all P<0.01).Pearson correlation analysis showed that FBG and HbA1c levels were positively correlated with disease activity indicators such as CRP, RF, ESR and DAS28 obviously (all P<0.01).Conclusion In RA patients complicated with DM, the level of blood glucose significantly increases and is positively correlated with the disease activity, suggesting that the change of blood glucose level can affect the disease activity in RA.Therefore, it is necessary to control the blood glucose of RA patients to alleviate the disease progression in clinical treatment.