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

Table 1 Characteristics of rheumatoid arthritis patients with and without cardiovascular disease

	RA without CVD (n = 541)	RA with CVD (n = 72)	p value
Demographic variables
Mean age, years (SD)	62 (11)	67 (10)	<0.001^a
Percentage females	72	58	0.02^a
RA related variables
Median disease duration, years (IQ range)	7.7 (5–11)	10.6 (8–13)	<0.001^a
Percentage IgM-RF positive	70	82	0.05^a
Percentage erosive patients	80	92	0.02^a
Median number of used DMARDs (IQ range)	2 (2–3)	3 (1–3)	0.01^a
Percentage DMARD naive patients	3	10	0.002^a
Percentage never SSZ, HCQ or MTX	5	17	<0.001^a
Percentage SSZ ever	78	65	0.02^a
Percentage HCQ ever	40	38	0.67
Percentage MTX ever	72	44	<0.001^a
Percentage prednisone ever	31	25	0.32
CVD related variables
Percentage smoking ever	64	65	0.83
Percentage hypertension	19	49	<0.001^a
Percentage diabetes	5	10	0.14
Percentage hypercholesterolemia	2	21	<0.001^a

Comparison made using Students' t-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests for the continues variables and Pearson's Chi-square tests for dichotomic variables. ^aSignificant. CVD, cardiovascular disease; DMARD, disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug; HCQ, hydroxychloroquine; IQ range, inter-quartile-range; MTX, methotrexate; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; RF, rheumatoid factor; SD, standard deviation; SSZ, sulfasalazine.

ISSN: 1478-6362