Practitioners may need to begin addressing a patient’s weight prior to certain blood tests. According to research published in Arthritis Care & Research Journal, obesity in women can affect the results of blood tests used to diagnose and monitor rheumatoid arthritis. “Obesity has been more precisely defined by the National Institutes of Health (the NIH) as a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 30 and above. (A BMI of 30 is about 30 pounds overweight.) The BMI, a key index for relating