Correlation between endothelial function and carotid atherosclerosis in rheumatoid arthritis patients with long-standing disease

Table 4 Regression analysis between carotid IMT and FMD stratified by disease duration from the time of RA diagnosis until ultrasonography assessment^a

Time from RA diagnosis until ultrasonography	Correlation coefficient (95% confidence interval)	Pvalue
Quartile 1, one to seven years	-0.003 (-0.019 to 0.013)	0.82
Quartiles 2 and 3, 7.5 to 19.7 years	-0.012 (-0.021 to -0.003)	0.02
Quartile 4, 20 to 38 years	0.008 (-0.003 to 0.019)	0.27

^aCarotid IMT: carotid intima-media wall thickness, FMD: flow-mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, RA: rheumatoid arthritis. Data are adjusted for gender, age at time of diseaseand time from RA diagnosis until ultrasonography.

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