Cardiovascular risk factors predate the onset of symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis: a nested case–control study

Table 4 Multivariable conditional logistic regression analyses for subsequent RA stratified for number of risk factors for cardiovascular disease^a present, stratified for median age (50.19 years) and sex

	No risk factor	One risk factor	Two risk factors	≥3 risk factors
All	Reference	1.73 (1.10-2.73)^*	1.85 (1.17-2.94)^**	2.81 (1.78-4.44)^***
Age ≤ 50.19 years	Reference	1.80 (1.04-3.14)^*	2.02 (1.14-3.57)^*	4.00 (2.25-7.13)^***
Age > 50.19 years	Reference	1.58 (0.65-3.87)	1.63 (0.69-3.83)	2.08 (0.90-4.85)
Women	Reference	1.47 (0.89-2.42)	1.55 (0.94-2.58)	2.63 (1.59-4.36)^***
Men	Reference	3.92 (1.10-13.91)^*	4.12 (1.18-14.36)^*	5.09 (1.48-17.54)^*

Data presented as odds ratio (95% confidence interval)
Apo apolipoprotein, BMI body mass index, RA rheumatoid arthritis
^aRisk factors for cardiovascular disease: elevated ApoB/ApoA1 ratio (males > 0.8, females > 0.7 including lipid lowering therapy), smoking ever, diabetes (self-reported in questionnaires), hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg including treatment for hypertension), BMI ≥ 25
^* p ≤ 0.05, ^** p ≤ 0.01, ^*** p ≤ 0.001, dependent variable case/control. Pre-symptomatic individuals compared with controls (reference being no risk factor present), stratified for age ≤ 50.19 years or > 50.19 years and women/men

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