Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs are associated with a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a case control study

Table 3 Odds ratios for cardiovascular disease

Groups	Model 1 OR (95 percent CI)	Model 2 OR (95 percent CI)	Model 3 OR (95 percent CI)
Never MTX, SSZ or HCQ (reference)	1.0	1.0	1.0
Only MTX ever	0.16 (0.04–0.66)^a	0.47 (0.07–3.23)	0.11 (0.02–0.56)^a
Only SSZ ever	0.42 (0.16–1.10)	0.31 (0.07–1.33)	0.37 (0.14–0.99)^a
Only HCQ ever	0.55 (0.18–1.67)	0.45 (0.10–2.04)	0.47 (0.15–1.46)
MTX and SSZ ever	0.20 (0.08–0.51)^a	0.24 (0.07–0.85)^a	0.16 (0.06–0.42)^a
MTX and HCQ ever	0.22 (0.04–1.19)	0.54 (0.08–3.66)	0.19 (0.04–1.02)
SSZ and HCQ ever	0.44 (0.14–1.41)	0.34 (0.05–2.16)	0.37 (0.11–1.24)
MTX, SSZ and HCQ ever	0.20 (0.08–0.54)^a	0.27 (0.07–0.99)^a	0.16 (0.06–0.43)^a

Model 1: correcting for age, gender, smoking and rheumatoid arthritis duration. Model 2: identical to 'Model 1' plus correction for hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. Model 3: identical to 'Model 1' plus correction for a positive rheumatoid factor test and erosions. ^aSignificant. CI, confidence interval; HCQ, hydroxychloroquine; MTX, methotrexate; OR, odds ratio; SSZ, sulfasalazine.

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