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Table 3 Characteristics of 35 nondiabetic rheumatoid arthritis patients (29 women, 11 with hypertension, 10 with dyslipidaemia, 11 smokers) who were matched 1:1 with 'healthy' control subjects for sex, age (59.6 ± 11.4 years) and other traditional cardiovascular risk factors present both at baseline and at follow-up enda

From: Predictors of new atherosclerotic carotid plaque development in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a longitudinal study

Parameters

Matched 'healthy' control subjects

Subgroup of 35 RA patients

Number of patients

35

35

Follow-up (months)

40.4 ± 3.4

41.4 ± 3.3

hs-CRP (mg/dl)

  

   Baseline

0.1 (0.05, 0.2)

0.3 (0.2, 0.6)

   Follow-up end

0.2 (0.08, 0.3)

0.4 (0.2, 0.8)

Traditional CV risk factors

  

   Hypertension (mmHg)

  

SBP baseline

122.7 ± 21.0

127.0 ± 20.0

SBP follow-up end

123.6 ± 19.1

128.6 ± 13.9

DBP baseline

75.6 ± 12.0

76.9 ± 9.5

DBP follow-up end

75.9 ± 8.9

80.4 ± 7.5

   Dyslipidaemia (mg/dl)

  

LDL baseline

141.3 ± 42.6

136.4 ± 35.6

LDL follow-up end

128.3 ± 31.0

116.2 ± 34.0

   Smoking

  

Pack-years at baseline

0.0 (0.0, 35.0)

0.0 (0.0, 21.4)

Pack-years during follow-up

0.0 (0.0, 3.0)

0.0 (0.0, 1.5)

   BMI (kg/m2)

  

Baseline

25.3 ± 4.3

26.5 ± 4.0

Follow-up end

25.5 ± 4.1

26.9 ± 4.7

  1. aBMI: body mass index, CV: cardiovascular, DBP: diastolic blood pressure, hs-CRP: high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, LDL: low-density lipoprotein, SBP: systolic blood pressure. Paired t-tests and Wilcoxon tests were used for all comparisons of the matched groups as appropriate. Variables are expressed as mean ± SD or as median (lower and upper quartiles). Comparisons between subgroups after Bonferroni correction did not reach significance.